How to pin down the pairing interaction for high Tc superconductivity in cuprates

The normal and pairing self-energies are the microscopic quantities which reflect and characterize the underlying interaction in superconductors. The momentum and frequency dependence of the self-energies, therefore, provides the experimental criteria which can single out the long sought-after pairing interaction among many proposed ideas. This line of research to pin down the pairing interaction for the cuprate superconductors has been carried out with some success by analyzing the momentum distribution curves (MDCs) of laser angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (ARPES) data. Some progress and results are presented and compared with theoretical calculations based on leading proposals. Comments are made on the proposed scenarios from the comparisons.