Translational symmetry breaking in the superconducting state of the cuprates: Analysis of the quasiparticle density of states

Motivated by recent scanning tuneling microscopy STM experiments on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 J. E. Hoffman et al., Science 295, 466 2002 ; C. Howald et al., cond-mat/0201546 unpublished ; J. E. Hoffman et al., Science 297, 1149 2002 : K. McElroy et al. unpublished ; C. Howald et al., cond-mat/0208442 unpub- lished , we study the effects of weak translational symmetry breaking on the quasiparticle spectrum of a d-wave superconductor. We develop a general formalism to discuss periodic charge order, as well as quasipar- ticle scattering off localized defects. We argue that the STM experiments in Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O8 cannot be explained using a simple charge density wave order parameter, but are consistent with the presence of a periodic modulation in the electron hopping or pairing amplitude. We review the effects of randomness and pinning of the charge order and compare it to the impurity scattering of quasiparticles. We also discuss implications of weak translational symmetry breaking for angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy experi- ments.Physic