V. Cvetkovic et al 2008 EPL 81 27001 doi:10.1209/0295-5075/81/27001
V. Cvetkovic1,4, Z. Nussinov2, S. Mukhin3 and J. Zaanen1,4
Show affiliationsSuperfluids and superconductors have been around for a long time and their explanation in terms of the Bogoliubov theory for bosons and the BCS theory for fermions belong to the highlights of twentieth century physics. However, it appears that these theories are too primitive to address the high-Tc superconductivity found in copper oxides. These electron systems seem to behave more like a dense, strongly correlated liquid contrasting markedly with the conventional quantum gasses: these show strong dynamical correlations on mesoscopic length and time scales associated with stripes, a particular form of electron crystallization. Resting on the gauge theory of topological quantum melting in 2+1 dimensions relevant for the cuprates, we describe the limit which is exactly opposite to the gas limit: the superconductor with the maximum possible amount of transient translational order. We predict that in this "orderly limit" an extra collective mode appears, and this "massive shear photon" can be regarded as a universal fingerprint of the fluctuating stripes. This mode is visible in the electrodynamic response and the ramification of our theory is that electron energy loss spectroscopy can be employed to prove or disprove the existence of dynamical stripes in cuprate superconductors.
74.20.-z Theories and models of superconducting state
74.72.-h Cuprate superconductors (high-Tc and insulating parent compounds)
Issue 2 (January 2008)
Received 21 June 2007, accepted for publication 7 November 2007
Published 3 December 2007
V. Cvetkovic et al 2008 EPL 81 27001
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