Possible Origins of High-\u3ci\u3eT\u3csub\u3ec\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/i\u3e, Superconductivity

A new mechanism is proposed to explain high-Tc superconductivity in copper-oxide-based, open perovskitelike systems. It is shown that, should the oxygen ions be moving in a double-well potential, an order-of-magnitude enhancement of the electron-lattice coupling follows automatically from a consistent treatment of this motion. Both theoretical and experimental evidence for the presence of such double wells is cited