Proximity effects and quantum dissipation in the chains of YBa2Cu3O6+x.

Abstract

We argue that the results of recent scanning tunneling microscopy, angle-resolved photoemission, and infrared spectroscopy experiments on the CuO chains of YBa2Cu3O6+x are consistently explained within a proximity model by the interplay of a coherent chain-plane and an incoherent and indirect interchain coupling. We show that the CuO2 planes act as an Ohmic heat bath for the chain fermions and induce a substantial quantum dissipation. Below the planar T(c), charge excitations in the chains acquire a universal superconducting gap.