Electron Correlation and Impurity-Induced Quasiparticle Resonance States in Cuprate Superconductors

Abstract

We theoretically study the quasiparticle resonance states around a nonmagnetic impurity in cuprate superconductors based on t-t'-J-U model. The purpose of introducing the Coulomb repulsive interaction U is to partially impose the double occupancy constraint by employing the Gutzwiller projected mean-field approximation. We determine the spatial variation of the order parameter and the local density of states (LDOS) by self-consistently solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We find that in the large U limit, a zero-energy resonance peak in the LDOS indeed appears for the impurity potential in the unitary limit, at the same time the asymmetric superconducting coherence peaks are strongly suppressed. As U decreases the electron double occupancy d is permitted and gradually increases, leading to the decreasing of order parameter. In particular the above zero-energy resonance peak begins to evolve into a double-peaked structure since a critical value $d_{c}$. These important feathers are qualitatively agreement with the scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments, and uncover the essential role played by the electron correlation in cuprate superconductors.