Dispersion Anomalies in Cuprate Superconductors

We argue that the shape of the dispersion along the nodal and antinodal directions in the cuprates can be understood as a consequence of the interaction of the electrons with collective spin excitations. In the normal state, the dispersion displays a crossover at an energy where the decay into spin fluctuations becomes relevant. In the superconducting state, the antinodal dispersion is strongly affected by the spin resonance and displays an S-shape whose magnitude scales with the resonance intensity. For nodal fermions, relevant spin excitations do not have resonance behavior, rather they are better characterized as a gapped continuum. As a consequence, the S-shape becomes a kink, and superconductivity does not affect the dispersion as strongly. Finally, we note that optical phonons typically lead to a temperature independent S-shape, in disagreement with the observed dispersion.Comment: 12 pages, 7 eps figure

Luttinger theorem for a spin-density-wave state

We obtained the analog of the Luttinger relation for a commensurate spin-density-wave state. We show that while the relation between the area of the occupied states and the density of particles gets modified in a simple and predictable way when the system becomes ordered, a perturbative consideration of the Luttinger theorem does not work due to the presence of an anomaly similar to the chiral anomaly in quantum electrodynamics.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 1 figure embedded in the text, ps-file is also available at http://lifshitz.physics.wisc.edu/www/morr/morr_homepage.htm

Spin-liquid model of the sharp resistivity drop in La1.85Ba0.125CuO4La_{1.85}Ba_{0.125}CuO_4

We use the phenomenological model proposed in our previous paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 237001 (2007)] to analyse the magnetic field dependence of the onset temperature for two-dimensional fluctuating superconductivity $T^{**} (H)$. We demonstrate that the slope of $T^{**} (H)$ progressively goes down as $H$ increases, such that the upper critical field progressively increases as $T$ decreases. The quantitative agreement with the recent measurements of $T^{**} (H)$ in $La_{1.85}Ba_{0.125}CuO_4$ is achieved for the same parameter value as was derived in our previous publication from the analysis of the electron self energy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Signatures of non-monotonic d-wave gap in electron-doped cuprates

We address the issue whether the data on optical conductivity and Raman scattering in electron-doped cuprates below $T_c$ support the idea that the $d-$wave gap in these materials is non-monotonic along the Fermi surface. We calculate the conductivity and Raman intensity for elastic scattering, and find that a non-monotonic gap gives rise to several specific features in optical and Raman response functions. We argue that all these features are present in the experimental data on Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_4$ and Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_4$ compounds.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Non-fermi liquid behavior in itinerant antiferromagnets

We consider a two dimensional itinerant antiferromagnet near a quantum critical point. We show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, fermionic excitations in the ordered state are not the usual Fermi liquid quasiparticles. Instead, down to very low frequencies, the fermionic self energy varies as $\omega^{2/3}$. This non-Fermi liquid behavior originates in the coupling of fermions to the longitudinal spin susceptibility $\chi_{\parallel}(q, \Omega)$ in which the order-induced ``gap'' in the spectrum at $q=0$ dissolves into the Landau damping term at $v_F q >\Omega$. The transverse spin fluctuations obey $z=1$ scaling characteristic of spin waves, but remain overdamped in a finite range near the critical point.Comment: 5p., 3fig