Theory of Cuprate Pseudogap as Antiferromagnetic Order with Charged Domain Walls

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the pseudogap phase in cuprates is due to antiferromagnetic order with charged domain walls, explaining experimental signatures and the phase's collapse.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking the pseudogap phase to antiferromagnetic order with topological defects, providing a quantitative description of its termination.

Findings

Explains key experimental signatures of the pseudogap phase.

Describes how the pseudogap phase collapses in cuprates.

Provides a quantitative model for the phase boundary.

Abstract

While magnetic fields generally compete with superconductivity, a type II superconductor can persist to very high fields by confining the field in topological defects, namely vortices. We propose that a similar physics underlies the pseudogap phase in cuprates, where the relevant topological defects are the antiphase domain walls of an underlying antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. A key consequence of this scenario is that the termination of the pseudogap phase should be quantitatively described by the underlying AFM model. We demonstrate that this picture can explain a number of key experimentally observed signatures of the pseudogap phase and how it collapses in the cuprates.