Stripes and the (Cu)13-BEC model

Abstract

The (Cu)13-BEC model of high-temperature superconductivity was previously shown to account for many of the principal thermodynamic and electronic properties of the superconducting cuprates. Here I show that this model is also able to account for many of the key characteristics of the coupled CDW and SDW orders in these compounds. These include the general coexistence of metallic parallel stripes with superconductivity, the well-known linear relationship between the incommensurability of the SDW-induced IC magnetic peaks and the dopant concentration, as well as the saturation of this incommensurabilty at a value of about 1/8 for doping greater than 1/8. The model also provides a natural explanation for the celebrated 1/8-anomaly in LSCO and LBCO. It is also able to account for the severe suppression of the superconductivity in LNSCO at all doping levels and for the variations in the properties of LBSCO, at a fixed hole doping of 1/8, as its crystal structure is changed. Furthermore, the (Cu)13-BEC model is also consistent with many of the characteristics of the SDW orders in Y123. Most importantly, scanning tunneling microscopy results on Bi2212 appear to provide a direct validation of the CDW order predicted by the model.