Toward a theory of high-temperature superconductivity in the antiferromagnetically correlated cuprate oxides

Abstract

We show that the retarded interaction between quasiparticiles on a 2D square lattice induced by the exchange of antiferromagnetic paramagnons leads uniquely to a transition to a superconducting state with ${\mathit{d}}_{\mathit{x}}^{2}$-${\mathit{y}}^{2}$ symmetry. With a spin-excitation spectrum and a quasiparticle-paramagnon coupling determined by fits to normal-state experiments, we obtain high transition temperatures and energy-gap behaviors comparable to those measured for ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$, ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{6.63}$, and ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.85}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.15}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$.