Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors

This book presents a complete encyclopedia of superconducting fluctuations summarising the last thirty-five years of work in the field. The first part of the book is devoted to an extended discussion of the Ginzburg-Landau phenomenology of fluctuations in its thermodynamical and time-dependent versions and its various applications. The second part deals with microscopic justification of the Ginzburg-Landau approach and presents the diagrammatic theory of fluctuations. The third part is devoted to a less-detailed review of the manifestation of fluctuations in observables: diamagnetism magnetoconductivity various tunneling characteristics thermoelectricity and NMR relaxation. The final chapters turn to the manifestation of fluctuations in unconventional superconducting systems: nanodrops nanorings Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless state quantum phase transition between superconductor and insulator and thermal and quantum fluctuations in weak superconducting systems. The book ends with a brief discussion on theories of high temperature superconductivity where fluctuations appear as the possible protagonist of this exciting phenomenon.