Nodal-antinodal dichotomy from pairing disorder in d-wave superconductors

Abstract

We study the basic features of the local density of states (LDOS) observed in STM experiments on high-T$_c$ d-wave superconductors in the context of a minimal model of a d-wave superconductor which has {\it weakly} modulated off-diagonal disorder. We show that the low and high energy features of the LDOS are consistent with the observed experimental patterns and in particular, the anisotropic local domain features at high energies. At low energies, we obtain not only the scattering peaks predicted by the octet model, but also weak features that should be experimentally accessible. Finally, we show that the emerging features of the LDOS lose their correspondence with the features of the imposed disorder, as its complexity increases spatially.