An organizing principle for two-dimensional strongly correlated superconductivity

TL;DR

This paper uses the two-dimensional Hubbard model and plaquette dynamical mean-field theory to connect the unusual features of cuprate superconductivity with the normal-state phenomena, revealing an organizing principle based on a first-order transition and associated crossovers.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the superconducting features in cuprates are fundamentally linked to a normal-state first-order transition and its crossovers, providing a unifying organizing principle.

Findings

The superconducting dome and maximum $T_c^d$ relate to the normal-state first-order transition.

The change from potential-energy to kinetic-energy driven pairing is connected to normal-state crossovers.

Superconducting properties are remnants of the normal-state phase transition and crossovers.

Abstract

Superconductivity in the cuprates exhibits many unusual features. We study the two-dimensional Hubbard model with plaquette dynamical mean-field theory to address these unusual features and relate them to other normal-state phenomena, such as the pseudogap. Previous studies with this method found that upon doping the Mott insulator at low temperature a pseudogap phase appears. The low-temperature transition between that phase and the correlated metal at higher doping is first-order. A series of crossovers emerge along the Widom line extension of that first-order transition in the supercritical region. Here we show that the highly asymmetric dome of the dynamical mean-field superconducting transition temperature $T_c^d$, the maximum of the condensation energy as a function of doping, the correlation between maximum $T_c^d$ and normal-state scattering rate, the change from potential-energy driven to kinetic-energy driven pairing mechanisms can all be understood as remnants of the normal state first-order transition and its associated crossovers that also act as an organizing principle for the superconducting state.