Resonating valence bonds and Fermi surface reconstruction: The resistivity in the underdoped cuprates

The pseudogap phase of the underdoped cuprates is the host to a variety of novel electronic phenomenon. An example is the dc-resistivity which shows metallic behaviour in the ab-plane, while the c-axis response is insulating. We apply a model, originally formulated by Yang, Rice, and Zhang, to study the resistivity in the pseudogap phase. This model is able to reproduce the qualitative features of the resistivity, including the systematic deviations from linear behaviour for the in-plane conductivity, and the insulating behaviour along the c-axis. We compare this to the predictions of the arc model and find similar qualitative behaviour. We find that the most important element in understanding the resistivity is the reconstruction of the Fermi surface, which puts strong restrictions on the number of quasiparticles allowed to participate in dc-transport.