Constraining Forces Stabilizing Superconductivity in Bismuth

As shown in former papers, the nonadiabatic Heisenberg model presents a mechanism of Cooper pair formation generated by the strongly correlated atomic-like motion of the electrons in narrow, roughly half-filled "superconducting bands" of special symmetry. The formation of Cooper pairs is not only the result of an attractive electron-electron interaction but is additionally the outcome of quantum mechanical constraining forces. There is theoretical and experimental evidence that only these constraining forces operating in superconducting bands may produce eigenstates in which the electrons form Cooper pairs. Here, we report evidence that also the experimentally found superconducting state in bismuth at ambient as well as at high pressure is stabilized by constraining forces.