Superconductivity in the Cuprates as a Consequence of Antiferromagnetism and a Large Hole Density of States

TL;DR

This paper reviews a theory linking superconductivity in cuprates to antiferromagnetism and a high hole density of states, emphasizing the role of a peak in the DOS for high critical temperatures.

Contribution

It proposes that a large hole density of states and antiferromagnetic interactions are key to superconductivity, with robustness against changes in band structure assumptions.

Findings

Superconductivity appears in the d_{x^2 - y^2} channel.

High DOS enhances the critical temperature T_c.

The main conclusions are stable under band structure modifications.

Abstract

We briefly review a theory for the cuprates that has been recently proposed based on the movement and interaction of holes in antiferromagnetic (AF) backgrounds. A robust peak in the hole density of states (DOS) is crucial to produce a large critical temperature once a source of hole attraction is identified. The predictions of this scenario are compared with experiments. The stability of the calculations after modifying some of the original assumptions is addressed. We find that if the dispersion is changed from an antiferromagnetic band at half-filling to a tight binding $cosk_x + cosk_y$ narrow band at $<n> =0.87$, the main conclusions of the approach remain basically the same i.e. superconductivity appears in the $d_{x^2 - y^2}$-channel and $T_c$ is enhanced by a large DOS. The main features distinguishing these ideas from more standard theories based on antiferromagnetic correlations are here discussed.