Gauge Invariance and Spinon-Dopon Confinement in the t-J Model: implications for Fermi Surface Reconstruction in the Cuprates

We discuss the application of the two-band spin-dopon representation of the t-J model to address the issue of the Fermi surface reconstruction observed in the cuprates. We show that the electron no double occupancy (NDO) constraint plays a key role in this formulation. In particular, the auxiliary lattice spin and itinerant dopon degrees of freedom of the spin-dopon formulation of the t-J model are shown to be confined in the emergent U(1) gauge theory generated by the NDO constraint. This constraint is enforced by the requirement of an infinitely large spin-dopon coupling. As a result, the t-J model is equivalent to a Kondo-Heisenberg lattice model of itinerant dopons and localized lattice spins at infinite Kondo coupling at all dopings. We show that mean-field treatment of the large vs small Fermi surface crossing in the cuprates which leaves out the NDO constraint, leads to inconsistencies and it is automatically excluded form the t - J model framework

Low-energy effective representation of the Gutzwiller-projected BCS Hamiltonian close to half filling

We investigate analytically a connection between the t-J model and the strongly correlated Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) Hamiltonian, with the effect of strong electron correlations accounted by the Gutzwiller projection. We show that in the immediate vicinity of half filling the projected 2D BCS Hamiltonian with strong pairing develops an antiferromagnetically (AF) ordered ground state. This result explicitly demonstrates that antiferromagnetism in this model appears as a natural consequence of the strong Coulomb repulsion in a low doped regime. At moderate doping the ground state of the Gutzwiller-projected BCS Hamiltonian becomes qualitatively similar to Anderson's resonating valence bond state which is known to fit nicely the properties of the t-J model in this regime. These two properties taken together indicate that the projected BCS Hamiltonian captures the essential low-energy physics of the t-J model in the whole underdoped region

Resonating Valence Bond Theory of Superconductivity for Dopant Carriers: Application to the Cobaltates

Within the $t$--$J$ model Hamiltonian we present a RVB mean field theory directly in terms of dopant particles. We apply this theory to $\mathrm{Na}_{x}\mathrm{CoO_{2}}\cdot y$ and show that the resulting phase diagram $T_c$ versus doping is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results

Doped carrier formulation of the t-J model: the projection constraint and the effective Kondo-Heisenberg lattice representation

We show that the recently proposed doped carrier Hamiltonian formulation of the t-J model should be complemented with the constraint that projects out the unphysical states. With this new important ingredient, the previously used and seemingly different spin-fermion representations of the t-J model are shown to be gauge related to each other. This new constraint can be treated in a controlled way close to half-filling suggesting that the doped carrier representation provides an appropriate theoretical framework to address the t-J model in this region. This constraint also suggests that the t-J model can be mapped onto a Kondo-Heisenberg lattice model. Such a mapping highlights important physical similarities between the quasi two-dimensional heavy fermions and the high-T$_c$ superconductors. Finally we discuss the physical implications of our model representation relating in particular the small versus large Fermi surface crossover to the closure of the lattice spin gap.Comment: corrected and enlarged versio

On representation of the t-J model via spin-charge variables

We show that the t-J Hamiltonian is not in general reduced to H(S,f), where S and f stand for independent ([S,f]=0) SU(2) (spin) generators and spinless fermionic (hole) field, respectively. The proof is based upon an identification of the Hubbard operators with the generators of the su(2|1) superalgebra in the degenerate fundamental representation and ensuing SU(2|1) path integral representation of the partition function.Comment: 15 pages, latex, no figure

The breakdown of the mean-field description of the Nagaoka phase

We discuss the relevance of the improved mean-field slave-fermion theory to describe the Nagaoka ($U=\infty$) limit of the Hubbard model. In this theory the crucial on-site constraint of no double electron occupancy is taken into account rigorously prior to the mean-field approximation. At one-loop approximation the effective mean-field action shows a long-range ferromagnetic order over the whole doping range. This indicates that the slave-fermion mean-field theory does not constitute an appropriate framework to describe the physics of the Nagaoka phase. We discuss the drawbacks of this mean-field theory and present some results on the derivation of a low-energy effective spin action to describe the Nagaoka phase beyond the mean-field approximation.Comment: 10 pages, revised and extended version. To be published in Phys. Rev.