Magic gap ratio for optimally robust fermionic condensation and its implications for high-Tc superconductivity

Abstract

Bardeen-Schrieffer-Cooper (BCS) and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) occur at opposite limits of a continuum of pairing interaction strength between fermions. A crossover between these limits is readily observed in a cold atomic Fermi gas. Whether it occurs in other systems such as the high temperature superconducting cuprates has remained an open question. We uncover here unambiguous evidence for a BCS-BEC crossover in the cuprates by identifying a universal magic gap ratio 2\Delta/k_BT_c ~ 6.5 (where \Delta is the pairing gap and Tc is the transition temperature) at which paired fermion condensates become optimally robust. At this gap ratio, corresponding to the unitary point in a cold atomic Fermi gas, the condensate fraction N_0 and the height of the jump \delta\gamma(Tc) in the coefficient \gamma of the fermionic specific heat at Tc are strongly peaked. In the cuprates, \delta\gamma(Tc) is peaked at this gap ratio when \Delta corresponds to the antinodal spectroscopic gap, thus reinforcing its interpretation as the pairing gap. We find the peak in \delta\gamma(Tc) also to coincide with a normal state maximum in \gamma, which is indicative of a pairing fluctuation pseudogap above Tc.