title: Thermal conductivity, Fermi pockets and superconductivity in underdoped cuprates.
abstract: The electronic contribution to thermal conductivity is studied in models of underdoped cuprates where the normal state has a pocketed Fermi surface with circumference ∼x (hole concentration) and the superconducting state is formed by opening a gap in the Fermi pocket. The physical consequences of the Fermi pocket are studied by comparing the thermal conductivity computed in four different models: (1) an ordinary d-wave superconductor with four Dirac Fermi points; (2) a normal metal with a pocketed Fermi surface; (3) a superconductor formed by spinon-holon binding in the t-J model; (4) a phenomenological d-wave Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductor with superconductivity formed by opening a gap on the pocketed Fermi surface. Our results suggest that thermal conductivity provides useful information to distinguish between different scenarios of the normal-to-superconducting transition in underdoped cuprates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China. Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Tai-Kai
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Ng