Spin-gap phase of strongly correlated fermions

We discuss the possible existence of a ''spin-gap'' phase in the low-doping regime of strongly correlated two-dimensional (2D) electrons within the gauge held description of the t-J model. The spin-gap phase was recently shown by Ubbens and Lee to be destroyed by gauge field quantum fluctuations for a single-layer 2D system in the absence of disorder and for a full gap. We show that the same conclusion applies both in the dirty limit and for the case of a gapless spinon condensate.