For a nonvanishing superconducting order parameter , . Single-valuedness gives phase winding around a closed curve, hence the fluxoid and flux quantization in a superconductor identity above. Magnetic flux alone is when the current integral vanishes. If the entire spanning surface is in a region where , the field vanishes there and the winding is zero; nonzero quantized flux requires a hole or a vortex core where that condition does not hold.
Limits of Meissner screening 2026-10-14
For a bulk type-II superconductor with negligible demagnetizing field, raising the applied magnetic field intensity past the lower critical value favors a superconducting mixed state containing quantum vortex lines; superconductivity survives until the upper critical value . The magnetic field extends around each vortex over a penetration scale, not solely inside its core. Thus a nonzero average magnetic flux density can coexist with superconductivity. Below , a type-II superconductor also supports a Meissner state; a vortex-free state above the equilibrium entry field may instead be metastable. [ref]
9.8 Superconductivity. §9.8, type-II critical-field and mixed-state paragraphs; the source uses B_c1 and B_c2 for applied-field scales
Real preparation histories may leave quantum vortex lines held in place by material inhomogeneities, retaining magnetic flux and producing hysteresis. This flux pinning restricts access to equilibrium: it is different from the arbitrary frozen interior magnetic field of the ideal perfect conductor model. Harvard's vortex-imaging work illustrates strong pinning to bulk disorder in a type-II superconductor. [ref]
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Research by Hoffman Laboratory. Vortex Imaging in Iron Pnictide Superconductor, Fig. 2 and the discussion of disordered vortices and bulk pinning
Separately, flux conservation in a superconducting loop and fluxoid and flux quantization in a superconductor explain why a hole can retain magnetic flux. Neither bore retention, vortex penetration nor weak screening in a thin sample should be silently identified with the equilibrium Planar London screening calculation. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 4 35B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
There is a sign inconsistency in the printed starting energy: its kinetic term uses , while the requested field equation, current and later zero-covariant-derivative condition use . Both conventions can be derived explicitly. Set for ; the intended later equations take , whereas the literal printed energy takes .
The magnetic term is , because . Vary independently with compactly supported variations. Integration by parts in the kinetic term givesIn particular gives the requested equation. Its conjugate follows from variation in .
For variation in , . The kinetic variation is , whereThe magnetic variation is after integration by parts. ThereforeFor this current equals the two displayed forms in the question. For the literal plus-sign energy, , the phase-gradient current term has the opposite sign and the field equation contains . Thus the requested set follows after correcting that one energy sign, not from silently varying inconsistent expressions. This is the gauge-coupling sign in Ginzburg-Landau superconductivity.
Now use the intended convention and write with . Dividing by separates real and imaginary parts:Thus is constant on each connected region. The remaining field equation requires , so for ,The current is . Taking the curl locally gives , hence also solves the Maxwell equation.
For a closed curve on which the order parameter is nonzero and , Stokes' theorem givesSingle-valuedness of permits phase change , so the flux quantum magnitude is (for Cooper pairs, ). There is an important geometric qualification: if the entire spanning surface lies in the smooth zero-field superconducting region assumed above, its flux and the total boundary winding are zero. Nonzero quantized flux occurs through a hole or vortex core where those assumptions do not hold over the spanning surface. More generally, without along the curve, the exact quantized quantity is the fluxoidThus fluxoid and flux quantization in a superconductor are related but are not interchangeable without the current condition.