Electron spectral functions in a quantum dimer model for topological metals

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron spectral functions in a quantum dimer model that captures key features of the pseudogap phase in cuprates, revealing a sizeable antinodal pseudogap with experimental relevance.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum dimer model with topological order that reproduces pseudogap phenomena and computes spectral functions aligning with experimental observations.

Findings

Reveals a sizeable antinodal pseudogap in the model

Shows momentum dependence deviates from simple d-wave

Captures properties of the pseudogap phase in cuprates

Abstract

We study single electron spectral functions in a quantum dimer model introduced by Punk, Allais and Sachdev (Ref. [1]). The Hilbert space of this model is spanned by hard-core coverings of the square lattice with two types of dimers: ordinary bosonic spin-singlets, as well as fermionic dimers carrying charge +e and spin 1/2, which can be viewed as bound-states of spinons and holons in a doped resonating valence bond (RVB) liquid. This model realizes a metallic phase with topological order and captures several properties of the pseudogap phase in hole-doped cuprates, such as a reconstructed Fermi surface with small hole-pockets and a highly anisotropic quasiparticle residue in the absence of any broken symmetries. Using a combination of exact diagonalization and analytical methods we compute electron spectral functions and show that this model indeed exhibits a sizeable antinodal pseudogap, with a momentum dependence deviating from a simple d-wave form, in accordance with experiments on underdoped cuprates.