We review the Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) theory of high temperatur e superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions that incorporate strong correlations. After a general overview of the phenomenon of high temperature superconductivity, we discuss Anderson's RVB picture and its implementation by renormalised mean field theory (RMFT) and variational Monte Carlo (VMC) techniques. We review RMFT and VMC results with an emphasis on recent development s in extending VMC and RMFT techniques to excited states. We compare results obtained from these methods with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). We conclude by summarising recent successes of this approach and discuss open problems that need to be solved for a consistent and complete description of high temperature superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions.
We review the Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) theory of high temperatur e superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions that incorporate strong correlations. After a general overview of the phenomenon of high temperature superconductivity, we discuss Anderson's RVB picture and its implementation by renormalised mean field theory (RMFT) and variational Monte Carlo (VMC) techniques. We review RMFT and VMC results with an emphasis on recent development s in extending VMC and RMFT techniques to excited states. We compare results obtained from these methods with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). We conclude by summarising recent successes of this approach and discuss open problems that need to be solved for a consistent and complete description of high temperature superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions.
We review the resonating valence bond (RVB) theory of high-temperature superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions that incorporate strong correlations. After a general overview of the phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity, we discuss Anderson's RVB picture and its implementation by renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) and variational Monte Carlo (VMC) techniques. We review RMFT and VMC results with an emphasis on recent developments in extending VMC and RMFT techniques to excited states. We compare results obtained from these methods with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). We conclude by summarizing recent successes of this approach and discuss open problems that need to be solved for a consistent and complete description of high-temperature superconductivity using Gutzwiller projected wave functions.
In a recent review by Anderson and co-workers, it was pointed out that an early resonating valence bond (RVB) theory is able to explain a number of unusual properties of high-temperature superconducting (SC) Cu oxides. Here we extend previous calculations to study more systematically the low-energy physical properties of the plain vanilla d-wave RVB state, and to compare the results with the available experiments. We use a renormalized mean-field theory combined with variational Monte Carlo and power Lanczos methods to study the RVB state of an extended $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model in a square lattice with parameters suitable for the hole-doped Cu oxides. The physical observable quantities we study include the specific heat, the linear residual thermal conductivity, the in-plane magnetic penetration depth, the quasiparticle energy at the antinode $(\ensuremath{\pi},0)$, the superconducting energy gap, the quasiparticle spectra, and the Drude weights. The traits of nodes (including kF, the Fermi velocity vF, and the velocity along Fermi surface v2), and the SC order parameter are studied. Comparisons of the theory and the experiments in cuprates show an overall qualitative agreement, especially on their doping dependences.
The principal purpose of this topical review is to single out some of the universal features of high-temperature (high-Tc) and related strongly-correlated systems, which can be compared with experiment in a quantitative manner. The description starts with the concept of exchange-interaction-mediated (real-space) pairing, combined with strong correlations among narrow band electrons, for which the reference state is that of the Mott–Hubbard insulator. The physical discussion of concrete properties relies on variational approach, starting from generalized renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) in the form of statistically-consistent Gutzwiller approximation (SGA), and its subsequent generalization, i.e., a systematic Diagrammatic Expansion of the Variational (Gutzwiller-type) Wave Function (DE-GWF). The solution leads to the two energy scales, one involving unconventional quasiparticles close to the Fermi energy, and the other reflecting the fully correlated state, involving electrons deeper below the Fermi surface. Those two regimes are separated by a kink in the dispersion relation, which is observed in photoemission. As a result, one obtains both the doping dependent properties in the correlated state, and effective renormalized quasiparticles. The reviewed ground-state characteristics for high-Tc systems encompass high-Tc superconductivity, nematicity, charge- (and pair-) density-wave effects, as well as non-BCS kinetic energy gain in the paired state. The calculated dynamic properties are: the universal Fermi velocity, the Fermi wave-vector, the effective mass enhancement, the pseudogap; and the d-wave gap magnitude. We discuss that, within the variational approach, the minimal realistic model is represented by the so-called t-J-U Hamiltonian. Inadequacy of the t-J and Hubbard models, particularly of their RMFT versions, is discussed explicitly. For heavy fermion systems, modeled by the Anderson lattice model and with the DE-GWF approach, we discuss the phase diagram, encompassing superconducting, Kondo insulating, ferro- and anti-ferromagnetic states. The superconducting state is then a two-d-wave gap system. If the orbital degeneracy of f-electrons is included, the coexistent ferromagnetic- (spin–triplet) superconducting phases appear and match those observed for UGe2 in a semiquantitative manner. Finally, in the second part, we generalize our approach to the collective spin and charge fluctuations in high-Tc systems, starting from variational approach, defining the saddle-point state, and combining it with 1/N expansion. The present scheme differs essentially from that starting from the saddle-point Hartree–Fock approximation, and incorporating the fluctuations in the random phase approximation (RPA). The spectrum of collective spin and charge excitations is determined for the Hubbard and t-J-U models, and subsequently compared quantitatively with recent experiments. The Appendices provide formal details to make this review self-contained.
Gutzwiller-projected (GP) wave functions have been widely used for describing spin-liquid physics in frustrated magnets and in high-temperature superconductors. Such wave functions are known to represent states of the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) type. In the present work I discuss the RVB structure of a GP singlet superconducting state with nodes in the spectrum. The resulting state for the undoped spin system may be described in terms of a ``path integral'' over loop coverings of the lattice, thus extending the known construction for RVB states. The problem of topological order in GP states may be reformulated in terms of the statistical behavior of loops. The simple example of the projected d-wave state on the square lattice demonstrates that the statistical behavior of loops is renormalized in a nontrivial manner by the projection.
In Chapter 1, we introduce the physics of the HTSC, starting with an historical overview of the problem and describing some experimental results that characterize these materials. Subsequently, we introduce the t−J model, which allows a microscopic description of the HTSC and we introduce the Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) wave function. In Chapter 2, we will describe the numerical techniques used for obtaining the results of our thesis. We start from the Lanczos method, that enable us to obtain exact results for small cluster size and then we enter in the topic of the quantum Monte Carlo technique. We describe the variational Monte Carlo method, the optimization algorithm and we will introduce the Green’s function Monte Carlo and fixed-node approximation, that improve the variational results. In Chapter 3, we will introduce our new variational wave function which generalizes the RVB state we show our results on the charge fluctuations (phase separation problem) for the two-dimensional t−J model. The main results of this chapter has been published in Physical Review B [7]. In Chapter 4, we will study the magnetic and superconducting properties of the two-dimensional t−J and t−t′−J model, trying to understand the role of the next-nearest-neighbor hopping term on the magnetic and superconducting phases. We will show a phase diagram of the magnetic and superconducting correlations, which qualitatively reproduce the actual phase diagram of HTSC and gives some indication on the origin of the electronic pairing. The main results of this chapter were submitted to Physical Review B [8].
High-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides (cuprates, e.g. La2−xSrxCuO4, YBa2Cu3O6+δ or Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ) remains among the most spectacular phenomena in condensed matter physics. Since its discovery in 1986, an enormous number (∼ 105) of papers on the subject have appeared. So far, there is no single, commonly accepted theory of high-temperature superconductivity. However, it is widely believed that a basic description of this phenomenon can be provided by a single-band Hubbard model or its derivative, the t-J model. The latter model is regarded as a minimal microscopic model, capable of describing the essential aspects of the complex physics of the cuprates. Unfortunately, in general case, neither of those two models can be solved exactly and therefore various approximate methods are used. Among them, the so-called mean-field methods provide a simple, yet fairly reasonable description of the cuprates. In particular, some of the main qualitative features of the phase diagram and the essential features of electronic spectrum are roughly reproduced. A standard mean-field approach to the t-J model, known under the name of renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) goes beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation. Consequently, its fully consistent treatment requires a novel theoretical approach. This has been our original motivation to develop a general approach to the mean-field models, which is based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle. The method is presented in detail in Part II of this Thesis, and in Part III it is applied to study RMFT of the t-J model. First, we compare the results obtained within our formalism with those of the frequently used non-variational approach based entirely on the self-consistent equations. Also, various versions of RMFT are compared, and the most satisfactory of them is selected. This optimal version is subsequently used to study different versions of the original t-J Hamiltonian. As a result, upper critical concentration and doping dependence of the selected physical quantities (e.g. the superconducting gap and the Fermi velocity) is determined at low temperatures and in the absence of external magnetic field. We compare our findings both with theoretical results obtained from the Variational Monte Carlo (VMC) methods, as well as with the experimental data for selected cuprates. We show that the version of RMFT approach formulated in this Thesis provides a reasonable qualitative and in some cases semiquantitative rationalization of the principal characteristics of the hole-doped high-temperature superconductors at the optimal doping and in the overdoped regime. Possible extensions of the proposed analysis are mentioned at the end.