Fermi liquid behaviour and mean field theories of high Tc superconductors

This thesis studies two modern mean field theories of the t-J model for high Tc superconductors, namely the Slave-Boson Mean Field Theory and the Spinon-Dopon Mixing Mean Field Theory, from the view point of the traditional Fermi Liquid language. This study mainly focuses on whether the two mean field theories are consistent with Fermi Liquid behaviour in the underdoped regime of the superconducting and pseudogap phases of the t-J model. Historically, experimental results indicate that the superconducting phase can be well described by the conventional Fermi liquid-like quasiparticle picture; while the pseudogap phase exhibits non-trivial non-Fermi Liquid properties. This work aims at interpreting the pseudogap phase in a generalized Fermi Liquid framework and explaining why the simple quasiparticle picture works so well in the superconducting phase even in this strongly correlated superconducting system. Within the Gaussian approximation, we formally derived the Landau interaction in Fermi liquid theory, which serves as the key to classify the behaviour of the quasiparticles in different phases. It is found that the Slave-Boson Mean Field Theory describes the superconducting to the pseudogap phase transition as a transition with an interesting Landau parameter F1s changing from 1+F1s~x to 1+F1s=0, reflecting the occurrence of a quasiparticle instability. A new phase is proposed and its experimental consequences are discussed. On the other hand, we also find that the Spinon-Dopon Mixing Mean Field Theory can be understood in a conventional Fermi Liquid framework; even though quasiparticles in the theory carry larger charges. The issue of superfluid density is also clarified