title: Valence bond glass theory of electronic disorder and the pseudogap state of high-temperature cuprate superconductors.
abstract: We show that the low-energy fluctuations of the valence bond due to the superexchange are pinned by the electronic disorder from off-stoichiometric dopants, leading to a valence bond glass (VBG) pseudogap phase in underdoped high-T_{c} cuprates. The antinodal Fermi surface sections are gapped out, giving rise to a normal state Fermi arc whose length shrinks with underdoping. Below T_{c}, the superexchange interaction induces a d-wave superconducting gap that coexists with the VBG pseudogap. The evolution of the local and momentum-space spectroscopy with doping and temperature captures the salient properties of the pseudogap phenomena and the electronic disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Liang Ren
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Niestemski
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang