Valence Bond Glass Theory of Electronic Disorder and the Pseudogap State of High-Temperature Cuprate Superconductors

We show that the low-energy fluctuations of the valence bond due to the superexchange are pinned by the electronic disorder from off-stoichiometric dopants, leading to a valence bond glass (VBG) pseudogap phase in underdoped high-T(c) cuprates. The antinodal Fermi surface sections are gapped out, giving rise to a normal state Fermi arc whose length shrinks with underdoping. Below T(c), the superexchange interaction induces a d-wave superconducting gap that coexists with the VBG pseudogap. The evolution of the local and momentum-space spectroscopy with doping and temperature captures the salient properties of the pseudogap phenomena and the electronic disorder.