PREDICTING AND EXPLAINING Tc AND OTHER PROPERTIES OF BCS SUPERCONDUCTORS

Abstract

After providing some history and background material regarding the evolution of research on superconductivity, a description of the use of the BCS theory for the development of approaches for calculations and predictions of superconducting properties will be given. The emphasis is on estimates of Tc raising Tc, and predicting new superconductors. The basic analysis will be based on the BCS formalism with modern extensions. The focus here is on phonon mediated pairing of electrons as described in the original BCS paper augmented by current modifications and the use of modern calculational approaches.