Specific heat of underdoped cuprates: RVB versus Fermi arcs

TL;DR

This paper uses a microscopic RVB-based model to calculate the specific heat of underdoped cuprates, showing qualitative agreement with experiments and connecting it to phenomenological Fermi arc models.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic RVB spin liquid model to explain the specific heat in underdoped cuprates and relates it to existing phenomenological approaches.

Findings

Qualitative agreement with experimental specific heat data

Justification of Fermi arc models from RVB theory

Analysis of pseudogap state in underdoped cuprates

Abstract

A recent microscopic model of the pseudogap state, based on the resonating valence bond (RVB) spin liquid, has provided a simple ansatz for the electronic self energy in which a gap forms on the antiferromagnetic Brillouin zone as the limit of a Mott insulator is approached in the underdoped regime. Here, the ansatz is employed to calculate the electronic specific heat when a superconducting gap is also included. We find qualitative agreement with all experimental observations in the underdoped regime of the cuprates. We explore the relationship of the theory to two other purely phenomenological approaches, the nodal liquid and the Fermi arc model, and provide justification for their use on experimental data in light of this microscopic RVB theory.