Consilience of High-Tc Theories

Improvements both in the quality and in the variety of experiments on high-temperature superconductors have yielded new insights into the microscopic origins of pairing. A number of competing theories have already been ruled out. Some of the more promising descriptions – gauge theories, coupled-chains, nesting instabilities, nodal liquids, and stripes – share features in common. A unified picture of the cuprates is beginning to emerge.