The Gor’kov–Teitel’baum Thermal Activation Model for Cuprates: A Review

While closing their famous paper entitled “Pseudogap: friend or foe of high-Tc?” Norman, Pines, and Kallin underlined that before we have a microscopic theory, we must have a consistent phenomenology. This was in 2005. As it turns out in 2006, a phenomenological theory of the pseudogap state was proposed by Gor’kov and Teitel’baum. This originated from their careful analysis of the Hall effect data, and it has been very successful model as numerous investigations over the years have shown. In this mini-review, the essence of the idea of Gor’kov and Teitel’baum is presented. The pseudogap obtained by them from the Hall effect data agrees very well with that obtained from the ARPES data. This famous Gor’kov–Teitel’baum thermal activation model (in short GTTA model) not only presents a consistent phenomenology of the pseudogap state, but also rationalizes the Hall angle data, and it presents a strong case against the famous “two-relaxation times” idea of Anderson and collaborators.