Nodal quasi-particles of the high-Tc superconductors as carriers of heat

In the quest for understanding correlated electrons, high-temperature superconductivity remains a formidable challenge and a source of insight. This paper briefly recalls the central achievement by the study of heat transport at low temperatures. At very low temperatures, nodal quasi-particles of the d-wave superconducting gap become the main carriers of heat. Their thermal conductivity is unaffected by disorder and reflects the fine structure of the superconducting gap. This finding had led to new openings in theexploration of other unconventional superconductors

Keywords:

unconventional superconductivity , transport properties , thermal conductivity , superconducting gap , nodal quasi-particles , impurity scattering