A least upper bound on the superconducting transition temperature

It is rigorously shown that the superconducting transition temperature of any material for which the Eliashberg theory is valid must satisfy k_BT_c ? 0.2309 A, where A is the area under its electron-phonon spectral function α²F(ω). This relation is a least upper bound, not just an upper bound, in the sense that there is an optimal situation in which the equality holds. This occurs when the Coulomb pseudopotential parameter $\text{μ}{}^1$ is zero and the spectral function is the Einstein spectrum Aδ(ω ? 1.750 A). These results are generalized in an approximate, but sufficiently accurate, way to the case $\text{μ}{}^1\text{≠ 0}$ to obtain the more useful least upper bound $\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>B</mtext>}}\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>c</mtext>}}\text{? c(μ}{}^1\text{) A}$ and the corresponding optimal spectrum $\text{Aδ[ω ? d(μ}{}^1\text{)A]}$. Numerical results for the functions $\text{c(μ}{}^1\text{)}$ and d(μ¹) are presented for $\text{0 ? μ}{}^1\text{? 0.20}$. It is shown that the T_c's of many materials (including Nb₃Sn), for which experimental values of A and $\text{μ}{}^1$ are available, do not lie very far below the upper bound.