I will present a conjectured phase diagram of an “ideal” (i.e. disorder-free) hole-doped cuprate, which is based on both robust experimental observations in various families of actual cuprates and on general theoretical observations. However, this phase diagram disagrees in certain qualitative ways with experimental trends that have been documented in the cuprates. These include the shape of the edge of the superconducting dome and the doping-dependence of the zero-temperature superfluid density on the overdoped side of the dome, as well as the apparent existence of commensurate antiferromagnetic order on the inner planes of underdoped multilayer cuprates. I will argue that the discrepancies on in the overdoped regime reflect the effects of intrinsic disorder, while in the underdoped multilayer cuprates it reflects the effects of significant intra-unit cell, interlayer couplings. An important conclusion is that ideal overdoped cuprates can be understood on the basis of a Fermi-liquid/BCS mean field theory-based approach (albeit one that does not necessarily involve phonons). Further implications will be discussed as time permits.

This talk will be largely based on work in “Emergence of Fermi-liquid and BCS physics in overdoped cuprates,” B. J. Ramshaw and S. A. Kivelson, to be published.