The Origin of Fermi Arcs in Cuprate Pseudogap States and Strong Constraints on Viable Theories of High-Temperature Superconductivity

A full Fermi surface exists in underdoped high-temperature superconductors if the temperature T lies above the pseudogap temperature T*. Below T* only arcs of Fermi surface survive, scaling with T/T* as T -> 0, with T* displaying strong doping dependence. There is no accepted explanation for this behavior. We show that generalizing the BCS theory of normal superconductivity to include d-wave pairs and antiferromagnetism leads to the origin and doping dependence of the T* scale, and a quantitative description of Fermi arcs. These results place strong constraints on viable theories of high-temperature superconductivity.