The t-J model approximates the low-energy sector of a repulsive Hubbard model with near one electron per site. Large on-site repulsion suppresses double occupancy. Virtual hopping out of and back into that low-energy sector produces antiferromagnetic superexchange with . One conventional effective Hamiltonian iswith projected electron operator . At half filling, nearest-neighbor hopping cannot move an electron without entering a forbidden doubly occupied state, leaving the leading spin-exchange model. Doped holes can move and couple the charge dynamics to these spin correlations. Additional terms, including three-site processes at order , are omitted in this simplified Hamiltonian.
The exchange term energetically favors a nearest-neighbor spin singlet. With in the no-double-occupancy subspace, . A square-lattice pairing ansatz can therefore use bond singlets with opposite signs along the two axes. This d-wave bond order hasIt changes sign under a quarter-turn and vanishes along the zone diagonals. It is an even-parity, spin-singlet pairing pattern, not a statement of triplet pairing or necessarily broken time reversal. Phase-sensitive interference experiments distinguish this sign structure from a merely anisotropic nonnegative gap in cuprate superconductors.[ref]
Pairing symmetry and flux quantization in a tricrystal superconducting ring by C. C. Tsuei and others. 1994 phase-sensitive tricrystal test
The model captures strong local repulsion, antiferromagnetism and mobile doped carriers. Its interacting phase diagram is not solved by writing down the Hamiltonian: a mean-field d-wave ansatz is a proposed approximation, not a proof that every parameter choice has that exact ground state or a complete microscopic explanation of every high-temperature superconductor.
t-J model 2026-10-20
An effective low-energy lattice model obtained from a strongly repulsive Hubbard model near one electron per site. The retained Hilbert space excludes double occupancy. Its usual nearest-neighbor Hamiltonian has projected hopping and antiferromagnetic superexchange . Virtual intermediate states with one double occupancy cost energy , giving to leading order. Three-site hopping terms of the same expansion order are omitted in this simplified version.
At half filling the projected hopping is blocked. Doped holes restore charge motion coupled to spin correlations. Nearest-neighbor singlet pairing can support a d-wave bond order ansatz on a square lattice, but the Hamiltonian alone is not a proof of a unique superconducting ground state for all parameters.