The Origin of the Pseudogap in Underdoped HTSC

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the pseudogap in underdoped high-temperature superconductors originates from a modulated antiferromagnetic phase caused by hole aggregation, leading to a gapless excitation spectrum and Fermi surface features consistent with experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model based on the t-J Hamiltonian that explains the pseudogap as a result of antiferromagnetic modulation and hole aggregation, resolving previous conceptual contradictions.

Findings

The excitation spectrum is gapless despite the order parameter.

The model predicts a Fermi surface consistent with experimental observations.

The formalism derives the ground state and internal fields of the condensed phase.

Abstract

Here the Origin of the pseudogap in HTSC is attributed to the modulated antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase, whose preliminary version has been sketched recently by the present author [1](arXiv:0901.3896v2 (cond.-mat.sup-con)). Starting from the t-J Hamiltonian, I show that the formal failure of the perturbation theory leads to a transformation to the pseudogap phase. This phase is characterized by the aggregation of the holes into rows and columns, which in turn results in two internal fields. The first is the modulated AFM field, whose main evidence comes from Neutron scattering experiments. The second internal field is made up by the checkerboard charge density waves that have been observed by Scanning Tunneling Measurements. The present paper deals mainly with the internal field of the first type, and discusses the second type only tentatively. Formalism is derived that yields the ground state, the internal field, the Hamiltonian, and the propagators of the condensed phase. Our results resolve the presumably inherent self contradictory concept of pseudogap. It is shown that the excitation energy spectrum is gapless despite the order parameter that is inherent to the condensed system. In addition, it is shown qualitatively that our model predicts "Fermi surface" that is in agreement with experiment.