Specific heat of underdoped cuprates: Resonating valence bond description versus Fermi arcs

A recent microscopic model of the pseudogap state, based on the resonating valence bond (RVB) spin liquid, has provided a simple ansatz for the electronic self-energy in which a gap forms on the antiferromagnetic Brillouin zone as the limit of a Mott insulator is approached in the underdoped regime. Here, the ansatz is employed to calculate the electronic specific heat when a superconducting gap is also included. We find qualitative agreement with all experimental observations in the underdoped regime of the cuprates. We explore the relationship of the theory to two other purely phenomenological approaches, the nodal liquid and the Fermi arc model, and provide justification for their use on experimental data in light of this microscopic RVB theory.