Vortex state in a doped Mott insulator

We analyze the recent vortex core spectroscopy experiments in cuprate superconductor and discuss what can be learned from them about the nature of the ground state in these compounds. We argue that the data are inconsistent with the assumption of a simple metallic ground state and exhibit characteristics of a doped Mott insulator. A theory for a vortex core in such a doped Mott insulator is developed based on the U(1) gauge field slave boson model and is shown to exhibit properties qualitatively consistent with the experimental data.