过去,笔者一直认为将论文引用率作为其质量的评价指标在“统计学意义上”是比较可靠的。因为一篇论文被大量引用,至少说明同行对这篇论文的关注度很高,作为集体选择的结果,其价值自然值得重视。不过,这仅仅只是基于“统计学意义上”。有趣的是,最近笔者恰恰遇到了一个小概率事件,而且这个小概率事件“很不平凡”。
近3年来,笔者发现2维BCS类超导材料在临界相变温度可能发生一种新的“量子临界现象”[1-2],稍后被美国布鲁克海文实验的同行所验证[3]。笔者去年将这种新的量子临界现象称为“BCS量子临界现象”[2]。BCS类超导体(包括过掺杂高温超导体)都是用所谓的“费米流体理论”进行描述,但是欠掺杂和最优掺杂高温超导体普遍被认为不是“费米流体”。事实上,在论文[2]中笔者发现了一个“方程A”来专门描写“超导体的量子临界现象”:只要给出超导体的正确拉格朗日函数,那么就可以通过笔者的“方程A”给出量子临界现象的标度规律。但是遗憾的是,笔者的论文[1-2]都是基于BCS框架(即费米流体模型),因此无法描述欠掺杂和最优掺杂高温超导体(即非费米流体)。所以笔者自然很希望将“方程A”应用到非费米流体模型。但是非费米流体模型很多,创建者的名气也都很大,那么选择哪一位大家的非费米流体模型,就摆在了笔者的面前。最后笔者选择了名气最大的那一位——菲利浦·安德逊(PhilipWarren Anderson)。
做凝聚态物理的可能没有谁没有听说过菲利浦•安德逊,他是1977年的诺贝尔物理学奖得主,在笔者的印象中,当代凝聚态大家中还没有谁可以与其一争长短。安德逊教授于高温超导体在1986年被发现的第二年(1987年),即提出一种描述它的新理论——“安德逊非费米流体模型”,这篇论文发表在Science上[4],目前其引用率达到8168次(见图1)。凝聚态物理第一人加上无与伦比的引用率,笔者觉得“就是它”了。
图1
由于“方程A”是笔者职业生涯中所发现的第一个有现实意义的物理方程,为了支持国货,所以就投稿到了国内最好的物理期刊之一的《Chinese Physics B》。不过,遗憾的是,论文被拒稿了。而拒稿的主要原因正是“安德逊非费米流体模型”!下面贴出审稿意见:
The authors tried to explain the experimental Tc as a function of zero temperature superfluid density.
He or she reiterated much of earlier works and in but one section extended his/her previous theory to the case of non fermi liquid. The key ingredient ofthe theory is, by RG treatment of the GL action, a fixed point for Lambda4, the coefficient of the 4th order homogeneous term in the GL theory, is found. Thenby referring to the definition of the bare Lambda4 in terms of Gorkov theory, a connection between superfluid density and Tc is drawn. I have several concerns and criticisms for the author:
(1). In this paper it is not clear to me whether the author performed RG with a quantum GL action, since I see no frequency dependence in the action. I suppose the author did RG wrt the quantum GL action. Assuming a dynamical exponent z=1, indeed the action resembles the classical GL action in d+1dimension. For the case of d=2, there is a well-knonw Wison-Fisher fixed point. I guess the author was citing this fix point. But this is nothing new. Moreover, the fix point depends very much on the value of z.
(2). By equating the fixed point Lambda4 to the bare value defined in termsof Gorkov theory does not make sense to me. This is because all quantities in the bare Lambda4 are in terms of mean field theory, which have nothing to dowith RG. I emphasize that the measured superfluid density in experiment isrelated to the renormalized phase stiffness, which the author should have worked upon.
(3). The so-called non-Fermi liquidtheory is a theory which even Anderson himself does not believe now, and in anycase cannot be used as a background for new developments.
(4). I do not see how the square-root behavior crossovers to the linear behavior in the Tc vs superfluid density relation.
For the above reasons, I do not recommend publication of the paper in Chinese Physics B.
审稿意见(1)和(2)两点,涉及量子临界方法与重整化群方法,对此笔者已经在更早的论文[2]中解释的很清楚了。特别是,意见(2)指出笔者使用的是平均场计算的“裸量”,所以无法与重整化联系。其实这个意见去年在Europhysics letters就被另外的审稿人尖锐的指出,笔者解决之后才被接受发表[2]。其实笔者考虑的是2维系统,该系统的平均场近似得到的费米面密度与重整化情形一致,而实验考虑的正是2维系统!但是审稿人似乎没有阅读[2]中的相关部分。
最关键的是,审稿意见(3)中审稿人直接指出(见英文黑体字):The so-called non-Fermi liquid theory is a theory which even Anderson himself does not believe now(安德逊自己都不再相信他自己的“非费米流体模型”)。审稿人因此说:in any casecannot be used as a background for new developments(“安德逊非费米流体模型”不能作为新理论的出发点)。所以笔者论文被拒。
诺贝尔奖得主的一篇引用率超过8000次的经典论文,最终被判定不能被进一步发展,确实让笔者觉得意想不到。也许审稿人与安德逊教授很熟,所以才敢说出“安德逊教授自己都不再相信‘安德逊非费米流体模型’”。
对此,笔者很是感慨。论文引用率超过8000次的经典著作(发表在顶级期刊Science),最终真被判定是“无意义”的话,那么以“引用率”作为评价科研成果质量的指标的客观性就真的该值得反思了。
参考文献:
[1]. Tao Y., Scaling Laws for Thin Films near the Superconducting-to-Insulating Transition. Scientific Reports 6 (2016) 23863
[2]. Tao Y., BCS quantum critical phenomena. Europhysics Letters 118 (2017) 57007
[3]. Bozovic I. et al., Dependence of the critical temperature in overdoped copper oxides on superfluid density. Nature 536 (2016)309
[4]. Anderson P. W., The Resonating Valence Bond State in La2CuO4 and Superconductivity. Science 235 (1987) 1196-1198
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