Specific heat across the superconducting dome in the cuprates

Abstract

The specific heat of the superconducting cuprates is calculated over the entire phase diagram. A d-wave BCS approach based on the large Fermi surface of Fermi liquid and band structure theory provides a good description of the overdoped region. At underdoping it is essential to include the emergence of a second energy scale, the pseudogap and its associated Gutzwiller factor, which accounts for a reduction in the coherent piece of the electronic Green's function due to increased correlations as the Mott insulating state is approached. In agreement with experiment, we find that the slope of the linear in T dependence of the low temperature specific heat rapidly increases above optimum doping while it is nearly constant below optimum. Our theoretical calculations also agree with recent data on Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-\mathrm{x}}$La${}_{\mathrm{x}}$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ for which the normal state is accessed through the application of a large magnetic field. A quantum critical point is located at a doping slightly below optimum.

submitted to PRB; 8 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (12)

• A Phenomenological Theory of The Pseudogap State
• Extending Universal Nodal Excitations Optimizes Superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• On the Relation between Optical Conductivity and Quasiparticle Dynamics: Boson Structures
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• Effect of pseudogap formation on the penetration depth of underdoped high $T_c$ cuprates
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• Signature of pseudogap formation in the density of states of underdoped cuprates
• On the checkerboard pattern and the autocorrelation of photoemission data in high temperature superconductors

Cited by in corpus (10)

• A Phenomenological Theory of the Anomalous Pseudogap Phase in Underdoped Cuprates
• Fractionalized Fermi Liquid in a Kondo-Heisenberg Model
• Electron pockets and pseudogap asymmetry observed in the thermopower of underdoped cuprates
• Optical properties of the pseudogap state in underdoped cuprates
• Magnetic field tuning of the valley population in the Weyl phase of Nd${}_2$Ir${}_2$O${}_7$
• C-axis optical conductivity from the Yang-Rice-Zhang model of the underdoped cuprates
• Electron pockets and pseudogap Dirac point in underdoped cuprate superconductors
• Closing the pseudogap quietly
• Isotope Effect of Underdoped Cuprates in the Yang-Rice-Zhang Model
• Unraveling pairon excitations and the antiferromagnetic contributions in the cuprate specific heat