Pseudogap Behavior in Underdoped Cuprates

Abstract

I review some of the experimental evidence and theoretical arguments that suggest that pseudogap matter is a new form of matter that coexists with coherent electron matter in the normal state and with superconducting matter below the superconducting transition temperature. I describe work in progress on a phenomenological two-fluid description of the evolution of pseudogap behavior that offers an explanation for the unexpectedly simple scaling behavior for the uniform magnetic susceptibility found in the underdoped cuprates and use this to propose a physical picture of the underdoped cuprates and to estimate the fraction of quasiparticles that become superconducting in underdoped superconductors.