Thermal conductivity and competing orders in d-wave superconductors

TL;DR

This paper derives an expression for thermal conductivity in d-wave superconductors at low temperatures, considering competing orders, and uses it to interpret experimental anomalies in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical framework linking competing orders to thermal conductivity behavior in d-wave superconductors, explaining experimental anomalies.

Findings

Competing orders can cause anomalies in thermal conductivity.

The derived expression fits experimental data in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4.

The analysis suggests competing orders influence low-temperature thermal transport.

Abstract

We derive the expression for the thermal conductivity \kappa in the low-temperature limit T \to 0 in d-wave superconductors, taking into account the presence of competing orders such as spin-density wave, is-pairing, etc.. The expression is used for analyzing recent experimental data in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4. Our analysis strongly suggests that competing orders can be responsible for anomalies in behavior of thermal conductivity observed in those experiments.