Abstract
We make use of a BCS type approach based on the extended Hubbard Hamiltonian to study the superconductor transition and to give a microscopic interpre- tation of the pressure effects on Tc in high temperature superconductors. This novel method suggests that the applied pressure causes an increase of the superconducting gap and this effect is explored in order to explain the variations of Tc. Our approach is therefore beyond the scope of previously phenomenological models which basically postulate a pressure-induced charge transfer and an intrinsic term linear on the pressure. We obtain a microscopic interpretation of this intrinsic term and a general expansion of Tc in terms of the pressure. To demonstrate the efficiency of the method we apply it to the experimental data of the Hg-base superconductors.