Unified intermediate coupling description of the pseudogap and the strange metal phases of cuprates

A one band Hubbard model with intermediate coupling is shown to describe the two most important unusual features of a normal state: linear resistivity strange metal and the pseudogap. Both the spectroscopic and transport properties of the cuprates are considered on the same footing by employing a relatively simple postgaussian approximation valid for the intermediate couplings $U\mathrm{/}t=1.5-4$ in relevant temperatures $T>100\mathrm{K}\mathrm{.}$ In the doping range $p=0.1-0.3$, the value of $U$ is smaller than that in the parent material. For a smaller doping, especially in the Mott insulator phase, the coupling is large compared to the effective tight binding scale and a different method is required. This scenario provides an alternative to the paradigm that the coupling should be strong, say $U\mathrm{/}t>6$, in order to describe the strange metal. We argue that to obtain phenomenologically acceptable underdoped normal state characteristics like $T^{\ast }$, pseudogap values, and spectral weight distribution, a large value of $U$ is detrimental. Surprisingly the resistivity in the above temperature range is linear $\rho ={\rho }_0+\alpha \frac{m^{\ast }}{e^{2}n\mathrm{\hslash }}T$ with the “Planckian” coefficient $\alpha$ of order one.