The algebraic spin liquid of a possible model description for the normal state of underdoped high temperature superconductors

16 years and counting ... In 1986 Bednorz and Muller discovered the layered perovskite structure (La - Ba)2Cu04 which showed the phenomenon of superconductivity at the unprecedented high temperature of Tc = 33 K. In the ensuing months and years it became more and more apparent that the cuprates, as the materials came to be known, show very peculiar correlations in their "normal" state at temperatures T > Tc. The majority of this thesis is concerned with this abnormal "normal" state, attempting to extract a coherent picture for the strange phenomenology. The underlying theoretical framework is a slave particle description of the tJ model proposed by Wen and Lee. The conceptual background is rooted in Anderson's proposal of spin charge separation as the key emergent phenomenon in cuprate physics. After a brief motivation we look at single particle tunneling into the cuprate's superconducting state from the perspective of both d-wave BCS and the SU(2) slave boson theory of Wen and Lee. Both approaches work well close to zero tunneling bias. The slave particle formulation however also naturally incorporates the particle/hole asymmetric background that is seen in experiments.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Rantner, Walter, 1973-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Xiao-Gang Wen.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29303

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29303