Entropic Origin of Pseudogap Physics and a Mott-Slater Transition in Cuprates

Abstract

We propose a new approach to understand the origin of the pseudogap in the cuprates, in terms of bosonic entropy. The near-simultaneous softening of a large number of different $q$-bosons yields an extended range of short-range order, wherein the growth of magnetic correlations with decreasing temperature $T$ is anomalously slow. These entropic effects cause the spectral weight associated with the Van Hove singularity (VHS) to shift rapidly and nearly linearly toward half filling at higher $T$, consistent with a picture of the VHS driving the pseudogap transition at a temperature $\sim T^{\ast }$. As a byproduct, we develop an order-parameter classification scheme that predicts supertransitions between families of order parameters. As one example, we find that by tuning the hopping parameters, it is possible to drive the cuprates across a {\it transition between Mott and Slater physics}, where a spin-frustrated state emerges at the crossover.

24 pgs, 15 figs + Supp. Material [6pgs, 3 figs]. Major revision of arXiv:1505.04770

References in corpus (7)

• Direct observation of competition between superconductivity and charge density wave order in YBa2Cu3Oy
• Lattice symmetry breaking in cuprate superconductors: Stripes, nematics, and superconductivity
• Quantum phase transitions of metals in two spatial dimensions: II. Spin density wave order
• Direct phase-sensitive identification of a d-form factor density wave in underdoped cuprates
• Bond order instabilities in a correlated two-dimensional metal
• Intermediate Coupling Model of the Cuprates
• Gutzwiller Magnetic Phase Diagram of the Cuprates