Evolution of the Fermi surface in phase fluctuating d-wave superconductors

TL;DR

This paper explains the emergence of Fermi arcs in underdoped cuprate superconductors as a consequence of thermal phase fluctuations destroying d-wave superconductivity, with predictions matching ARPES observations.

Contribution

It introduces a semiclassical theory showing how phase fluctuations in d-wave superconductors lead to Fermi arcs, providing a new explanation for experimental ARPES results.

Findings

Fermi arcs arise from thermal phase fluctuations in d-wave superconductors.

Spectral function develops a square root singularity at low frequencies.

Predicted temperature dependence of arc length aligns with ARPES data.

Abstract

One of the most puzzling aspects of the high $T_c$ superconductors is the appearance of Fermi arcs in the normal state of the underdoped cuprate materials. These are loci of low energy excitations covering part of the fermi surface, that suddenly appear above $T_c$ instead of the nodal quasiparticles. Based on a semiclassical theory, we argue that partial Fermi surfaces arise naturally in a d-wave superconductor that is destroyed by thermal phase fluctuations. Specifically, we show that the electron spectral function develops a square root singularity at low frequencies for wave-vectors positioned on the bare Fermi surface. We predict a temperature dependence of the arc length that can partially account for results of recent angle resolved photo emission (ARPES) experiments.