A non-BCS mechanism for superconductivity in underdoped cuprates via attraction between spin vortices

Abstract

We propose a non-BCS mechanism for superconductivity in hole-underdoped cuprates based on a gauge approach to the {\it t-J} model. The gluing force is an attraction between spin vortices centered on the empty sites of two opposite Néel sublattices, leading to pairing of charge carriers. In the presence of these pairs, a gauge force coming from the single occupancy constraint induces, in turn, the pairing of the spin carriers. The combination of the charge and spin pairs gives rise to a finite density of incoherent hole pairs, leading to a finite Nernst signal as precursor to superconductivity. The true superconducting transition occurs at an even lower temperature, via a 3D XY-type transition. The main features of this non-BCS description of superconductivity are consistent with the experimental results in underdoped cuprates, especially the contour plot of the Nernst signal.

6 pages, 1 figure, accepted by EPL

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• Emergence of Cooper pairs, d-wave duality and the phase diagram of cuprate superconductors
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• Bosonic resonating valence bond wave function for doped Mott insulators
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Hole pairing from attraction of opposite chirality spin vortices: Non-BCS superconductivity in Underdoped Cuprates
• A gauge approach to the "pseudogap" phenomenology of the spectral weight in high Tc cuprates
• Topologically stable gapped state in a layered superconductor
• Is the pseudogap a topological state?
• Gauge approach to superfluid density in underdoped cuprates
• Fractional exclusion and braid statistics in one dimension: a study via dimensional reduction of Chern-Simons theory