Pseudogaps in an Incoherent Metal

TL;DR

This paper explores how strong inelastic scattering in a 2D t-J model induces pseudogaps and incoherent metallic behavior, resembling phenomena observed in cuprate superconductors.

Contribution

It demonstrates that short-range antiferromagnetic fluctuations cause pseudogap formation and incoherent transport in a strongly correlated metal near the Mott transition.

Findings

Pseudogap opens near the Mott transition at low doping.

Resistivity drops as the pseudogap forms.

Hall constant increases with doping and decreasing temperature.

Abstract

How are the properties of a metal changed by strong inelastic scattering? We investigate this question within the two-dimensional t-J model using extended dynamical mean field theory and a generalized non-crossing approximation. Short-ranged antiferromagnetic fluctuations lead to a strongly incoherent single particle dynamics, large entropy and resistance. Close to the Mott transition at low hole doping a pseudogap opens, accompanied by a drop in resistivity and an increase in the Hall constant for both lower temperatures and doping levels. The behavior obtained bears surprising similarity to properties of the cuprates.