A slave boson description of pseudogap metals in t-J models

Abstract: We present a simple modification of the standard U(1) slave boson construction for the single band t-J model which accounts for two-particle bound states of spinons and holons. This construction naturally gives rise to fractionalized Fermi liquid ground states, featuring small, hole-like pocket Fermi surfaces with an anisotropic quasiparticle weight in the absence of broken symmetries. In a specific parameter regime our approach maps the square lattice t-J model to a generalized quantum dimer model, which was introduced as a toy model for the metallic pseudogap phase in hole-doped cuprates in [PNAS 112,9552-9557 (2015)]. Our slave boson construction captures essential features of the nodal-antinodal dichotomy and straightforwardly describes sharp, Fermi arc-like features in the electron spectral function. Moreover, it allows to study quantum phase transitions between fractionalized Fermi liquid phases and superconductors or ordinary Fermi liquids.