Thermal SU(2) lattice gauge theory of the cuprate pseudogap: reconciling Fermi arcs and hole pockets
Harshit Pandey, Maine Christos, Pietro M. Bonetti, Ravi Shanker, Sayantan Sharma, Subir Sachdev
Published: 2025/7/7
Abstract
The cuprate pseudogap phase displays Fermi arc spectral weight in photoemission, while recent magnetotransport observations present clear evidence for the existence of hole pockets. We reconcile these observations by a Monte Carlo study of a SU(2) lattice gauge theory of the background spin liquid of a fractionalized Fermi liquid of hole pockets. At the higher temperatures of the pseudogap, the inevitable finite-doping sign problem can be evaded by including only thermal fluctuations of the SU(2) gauge field and a charge $e$ Higgs boson, while the fermionic critical Dirac spinons and electrons are treated exactly. Our study also describes the onset of $d$-wave superconductivity by expulsion of vortices with flux $h/(2e)$, each with charge-order halos.