Acoustic plasmons and superconductivity. I. The role of exchange

Abstract

Acoustic plasmon excitations have been proposed as a possible mechanism for superconductivity in systems with 'heavy' and 'light' electrons. The authors formulate a theory of superconductivity in which electron excitations play the role of phonons in the conventional theory. The main qualitatively new aspect of such a theory is the role of exchange. The effect of exchange on the electron-acoustic-plasmon coupling parameter lambda is estimated.