An extended Ginzburg-Landau description for superconductors.

We give a straightforward generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau theory for superconductors where the scalar phase field is replaced by an antisymmetric Kalb-Ramond field. While the standard properties of superconductors are recovered for temperatures not very far from the critical one, we predict that at very low temperatures, where quantum phase effects are expected to play a significant role, the presence of vortices destroys superconductivity. A physical scenario behind the model proposed, which can be directly tested by experiments, is envisaged. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]