Gorkov equations for a pseudo-gapped high temperature superconductor

Abstract

A theory of superconductivity based on the two-body Cooperon propagator is presented. This theory takes the form of a modified Gorkov equation for the Green's function and allows one to model the effect of local superconducting correlations and long range phase fluctuations on the spectral properties of high temperature superconductors, both above and below Tc. A model is proposed for the Cooperon propagator, which provides a simple physical picture of the pseudo-gap phenomenon, as well as new insights into the doping dependence of the spectral properties. Numerical calculations of the density of states and spectral functions based on this model are also presented, and compared with the experimental STM and ARPES data. It is found, in particular, that the sharpness of the peaks in the density of states is related to the strength and the range of the superconducting correlations and that the apparent pseudo-gap in STM and ARPES can be different, although the underlying model is the same.Comment: REVTEX 3.1, 8 pages, 5 EPS figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.