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The pseudogap (PG) regime of the underdoped cuprates arguably remains one of the most enigmatic phenomena of correlated quantum matter. Recent theoretical ideas suggest that fractionalized bosonic fields can lead to the PG phase, by opening a gap in the anti-nodal (AN) region of the Brillouin zone. Such fractionalized boson can originate from modulated particle-particle pairs or pair density wave (PDW), a magnetic stripe, or a modulated spin one particle-hole pair like a spin density wave (SDW) boson, among others. The main picture goes as follows. Electrons under strong coupling tend to form different types of unstable bosons at high temperatures. As the temperature goes down, the compact object gets extremely unstable, and to minimize the entropy, it finally fractionalizes into elementary components, linked by a constraint. The process of fractionalization involves, in this way, an emergent gauge field directly linked to the constraint. This, in turn, couples to the Fermi surface of electronic carriers and opens a gap in the AN region, which is partly responsible for the PG phase. Alternative theoretical approaches invoke a simple coexistence between the multiple quasi-degenerate orders like charge density wave (CDW), superconductivity (SC), and magnetic orders at low temperatures. This scenario attributes the PG formation as a vestigial order showing up at $T^{*}$, which acts as a precursor to the zero temperature orders. This intricate situation calls for a key experimental test, enabling us to discriminate between the various theoretical scenarios. In this paper, we focus on the case where the PDW boson has fractionalized into a CDW and SC order below $T^{*}$, and we compare this to the situation where the two orders simply coexist.
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The single-particle density of states and the tunneling conductance are studied for a two-dimensional BCS-like Hamiltonian with a d_{x^2-y^2}-gap and phase fluctuations. The latter are treated by a classical Monte Carlo simulation of an XY model. Comparison of our results with recent scanning tunneling spectra of Bi-based high-T_c cuprates supports the idea that the pseudogap behavior observed in these experiments can be understood as arising from phase fluctuations of a d_{x^2-y^2} pairing gap whose amplitude forms on an energy scale set by T_c^{MF} well above the actual superconducting transition.
Recent angle resolved photoemission cite{yang-nature-08} and scanning tunneling microscopy cite{kohsaka-nature-08} measurements on underdoped cuprates have yielded new spectroscopic information on quasiparticles in the pseudogap phase. New features of the normal state such as particle-hole asymmetry, maxima in the energy dispersion and accompanying drops in the spectral weight of quasiparticles agree with the ansatz of Yang textit{et al.} for the single particle propagator in the pseudogap phase. The coherent quasiparticle dispersion and reduced asymmetry in the tunneling density of states in the superconducting state can also be described by this propagator.
The nature of the pseudogap phase of cuprates remains a major puzzle. One of its new signatures is a large negative thermal Hall conductivity $kappa_{rm xy}$, which appears for dopings $p$ below the pseudogap critical doping $p^*$, but whose origin is as yet unknown. Because this large $kappa_{rm xy}$ is observed even in the undoped Mott insulator La$_2$CuO$_4$, it cannot come from charge carriers, these being localized at $p = 0$. Here we show that the thermal Hall conductivity of La$_2$CuO$_4$ is roughly isotropic, being nearly the same for heat transport parallel and normal to the CuO$_2$ planes, i.e. $kappa_{rm zy}(T) approx kappa_{rm xy} (T)$. This shows that the Hall response must come from phonons, these being the only heat carriers able to move as easily normal and parallel to the planes . At $p > p^*$, in both La$_{rm 1.6-x}$Nd$_{rm 0.4}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ and La$_{rm 1.8-x}$Eu$_{rm 0.2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ with $p = 0.24$, we observe no c-axis Hall signal, i.e. $kappa_{rm zy}(T) = 0$, showing that phonons have zero Hall response outside the pseudogap phase. The phonon Hall response appears immediately below $p^* = 0.23$, as confirmed by the large $kappa_{rm zy}(T)$ signal we find in La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{rm 0.4}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ with $p = 0.21$. The microscopic mechanism by which phonons become chiral in cuprates remains to be identified. This mechanism must be intrinsic - from a coupling of phonons to their electronic environment - rather than extrinsic, from structural defects or impurities, as these are the same on both sides of $p^*$. This intrinsic phonon Hall effect provides a new window on quantum materials and it may explain the thermal Hall signal observed in other topologically nontrivial insulators.
In a multiorbital model of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors soft antiferromagnetic (AF) modes are assumed to reconstruct the Fermi surface to form nodal pockets. The subsequent charge ordering transition leads to a phase with a spatially modulated transfer of charge between neighboring oxygen p_x and p_y orbitals and also weak modulations of the charge density on the copper d_{x^2-y^2} orbitals. As a prime result of the AF Fermi surface reconstruction, the wavevectors of the charge modulations are oriented along the crystalline axes with a periodicity that agrees quantitatively with experiments. This resolves a discrepancy between experiments, which find axial order, and previous theoretical calculations, which find modulation wavevectors along the Brillouin zone (BZ) diagonal. The axial order is stabilized by hopping processes via the Cu4s orbital, which is commonly not included in model analyses of cuprate superconductors.
The properties of cuprate high-temperature superconductors are largely shaped by competing phases whose nature is often a mystery. Chiefly among them is the pseudogap phase, which sets in at a doping $p^*$ that is material-dependent. What determines $p^*$ is currently an open question. Here we show that the pseudogap cannot open on an electron-like Fermi surface, and can only exist below the doping $p_{FS}$ at which the large Fermi surface goes from hole-like to electron-like, so that $p^*$ $leq$ $p_{FS}$. We derive this result from high-magnetic-field transport measurements in La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ under pressure, which reveal a large and unexpected shift of $p^*$ with pressure, driven by a corresponding shift in $p_{FS}$. This necessary condition for pseudogap formation, imposed by details of the Fermi surface, is a strong constraint for theories of the pseudogap phase. Our finding that $p^*$ can be tuned with a modest pressure opens a new route for experimental studies of the pseudogap.
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