Strong Correlation and Superconductivity

Book excerpt: This volume contains the proceedings of the ffiM Japan International Sympo sium on Strong Correlation and Superconductivity, which was held in Keidan ren Guest House at the foot of Mt. Fuji, May 21-25, 1989. The purpose of the Symposium was to provide an opportunity for discus sions on the problem of strong correlation of electrons in the context of high-Tc superconductivity. Sixty-eight scientists were invited from seven countries and forty-three papers were presented in the Symposium. Soon after the discovery ofhigh-Tc superconducting oxides, Professor P. W. Anderson proposed that the essence of high-Tc superconductivity lies in the strong correlation among the electrons in these materials. This proposal has stimulated a wide range of theoretical investigations on this profound and dif ficult problem, which are expected to lead eventually to new concepts describ ing strong electron correlation. In the Symposium, Anderson himself started lively discussions by his talk entitled "Myth and Reality in High-Tc Supercon ductivity", which was followed by various reports on theoretical studies and experimental results. Concise and thoughtful summaries of experiment and theory were given by Professors H. R. Ott and P. A. Lee, respectively. It is our hope that this volume reflects the present status of the research activity on this outstanding problem from the viewpoint of the basic physics and that it will further stimulate the effort to understand these fascinating systems, the high-Tc oxides.