Theoretical understanding of Fermi-surface evolution between pseudogap Fermi arcs and high-field electron pockets in hole-doped cuprates

Determine a microscopic, quantitatively consistent theory that explains how the Fermi surface in hole-doped cuprate superconductors evolves from the Fermi-arc (non-Luttinger-volume hole pocket) structure of the pseudogap metal at low fields to the small electron-pocket Fermi surface inferred from low-temperature, high-magnetic-field quantum oscillations, explicitly accounting for the role of field-induced charge-density-wave order.

Background

Extensive experiments show that the underdoped cuprates exhibit Fermi-arc spectra in the higher-temperature pseudogap phase (seen by ARPES and STM), while at low temperatures and high magnetic fields quantum oscillations indicate a small electron-like pocket. Reconciling these distinct observations has been a major challenge.

Prior proposals invoked Fermi-surface reconstruction by charge-density-wave (CDW) order, but straightforward reconstructions of hole pockets typically predict an additional, unobserved oscillation frequency associated with the backside of the hole pockets. The present work introduces a fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) framework with Dirac spinons that confine across the transition to the CDW state, potentially eliminating the unobserved frequency and providing a route toward a unified description of the evolution.