Thermal SU(2) lattice gauge theory for intertwined orders and hole pockets in the cuprates
2026-04-29
The cuprate pseudogap phase displays Fermi arc spectral weight in photoemission and scanning tunneling microscopy, while recent magnetotransport observations yield evidence for the existence of hole pockets of fractional area p /8, where p is the doping density. We present a Monte Carlo study of a thermal SU(2) lattice gauge theory which can reconcile these observations. Our simulation includes the SU(2) gauge field U of a π -flux spin liquid, and a SU(2) fundamental charge e Higgs boson B . There is a Yukawa coupling between B , the fermionic spinons of the spin liquid, and the hole pockets of a fractionalized Fermi liquid. At the higher temperatures of the pseudogap, the finite-doping sign problem is evaded by including only thermal fluctuations of B and U , while the fermions are diagonalized exactly for each boson background. Our study also yields a fractionalized description of intertwined orders at lower temperatures, including the onset of d -wave superconductivity by the expulsion of vortices with flux h / ( 2 e ) , each with charge-order halos. We discuss conditions under which quantum oscillations in the density of states from hole pockets of area p / 8 could be observable in clean under-hole-doped cuprates.