Electron-phonon or hole superconductivity in MgB2 -: art. no. 144523

The BCS electron-phonon mechanism and the unconventional "hole mechanism" have been proposed as explanations for the high-temperature superconductivity observed in MgB2. It is proposed that a critical test of which theory is correct is the dependence of T-c on hole doping: the hole mechanism predicts that T-c will drop rapidly to zero as holes are added, while the electron-phonon mechanism appears to predict increasing T-c. for a substantial range of hole doping. Furthermore, the hole mechanism and electron-phonon mechanism differ qualitatively in their predictions of the effect on T-c, of change in the B-B distances. We discuss predictions of the hole mechanism for a variety of observables as a function of doping, emphasizing the expected differences and similarities with the electron-phonon explanation. The hole mechanism predicts coherence length and penetration depth to increase and decrease monotonically with hole doping, respectively.