Temperature dependence of the nodal Fermi velocity in layered cuprates

Abstract

We explain recently observed linear temperature dependence of the nodal Fermi velocity $v_F (T)$ in near-optimally doped cuprates. We argue that it originates from electron-electron interaction, and is a fundamental property of an arbitrary 2D Fermi liquid. We consider a spin-fermion model with the same parameters as in earlier studies, and show that the T term is about 30% at 300K, in agreement with the data. We show that the sub-leading term in $v_F (T)$ is a regular (and small) $T^2$ correction. We also show that at a $2k_F$ quantum-critical point, temperature corrections to the dispersion are singular.