Tighter upper bounds on the critical temperature of two-dimensional superconductors and superfluids: Approaching the supremum

Abstract

We discuss standard and tighter upper bounds on the critical temperature $T_c$ of two-dimensional superconductors and superfluids versus particle density n or filling factor $\nu$, under the assumption that the transition from the normal to the superconducting (superfluid) phase is governed by the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) mechanism of vortex-antivortex binding and a direct relation between the superfluid density tensor and $T_c$ exists. The standard critical temperature upper bound $T_c^{\rm up1}$ is obtained from the Glover-Ferrell-Tinkham sum rule for the optical conductivity, which constrains the superfluid density tensor components. However, we show that $T_c^{\rm up1}$ is only useful in the limit of low particle/carrier density, where it may be close to the critical temperature supremum $T_c^{\rm sup}$ . For intermediate and high particle/carrier densities, $T_c^{\rm up1}$ is far beyond $T_c^{\rm sup}$ for any given interaction strength. We demonstrate that it is imperative to consider at least the full effects of phase fluctuations of the order parameter for superconductivity (superfluidity) to establish tighter bounds over a wide range of densities. Using the renormalization group, we obtain the critical temperature supremum for phase fluctuations $T_c$ and show that it is a much tighter upper bound to $T_c^{\rm sup}$ than $T_c^{\rm up1}$ for all particle/carrier densities. We conclude by indicating that if the $T_c$ is exceeded in experiments involving single band systems, then a non-BKT mechanism must be invoked.