Pseudogap in hole-doped cuprates: Possible insights from the Kondo effect

The ``states-non-conserving'' fermion density of states (DOS), deduced from the specific heat of hole-doped cuprates, could arise from a Kondo or heavy fermionlike DOS being suppressed by antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations. The large Fermi surface predicted by band theory and observed experimentally is still expected for zero pseudogap but with an effective mass corresponding to a Kondo temperature ${T}_{K}\ensuremath{\simeq}800\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$. A finite pseudogap could divide it into Fermi arcs. Theoretical results for the asymmetric Anderson model can account for the experimental Wilson ratio.