Probing Competing and Intertwined Orders with Resonant Inelastic x-ray Scattering in the Hole-Doped Cuprates

TL;DR

This paper develops a formalism for resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) in itinerant electron systems and demonstrates its effectiveness in probing competing orders and broken symmetries in hole-doped cuprates.

Contribution

A new formalism for RIXS in systems with itinerant electrons that accurately accounts for core hole attraction and applies it to study cuprates.

Findings

RIXS lineshapes relate to band structure and broken symmetries.

RIXS can distinguish between different competing order parameters.

Establishes RIXS as a useful probe of the pseudogap phase.

Abstract

We develop a formalism to study indirect resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) in systems with itinerant electrons, accounting for the attraction between valence electrons and the positively-charged core hole exactly, and apply this formalism to the hole-doped cuprate superconductors. We focus on the relationship between RIXS lineshapes and band structure, including broken symmetries. We show that RIXS is capable of distinguishing between competing order parameters, establishing it as a useful probe of the pseudogap phase.