Abstract

This work expands the results and derivations presented in a recent letter. It is argued that symmetry breaking Hartree-Fock (HF) solutions of a simple model of the Cu-O planes in La₂CuO₄, are able to describe the insulator and antiferromagnetic characters of this material. Then, this classical primer of a Mott insulator is alternatively obtained here as an exact Slater insulator within the simplest of the first principles schemes. Moreover, pseudogap HF states are also predicted. The maximal energy gap of 100 meV over the Fermi surface of this wavefunction, reasonably well matches the ARPES upper pseudogap measurements for La₂CuO₄ in the zero doping limit. These surprising results followed after eliminating spin and crystal symmetry constraints usually imposed on the HF orbitals. The discussion helps to clarify the role of the antiferromagnetism and pseudogaps in the physics of the HTSC materials and indicates a promising way to start conciliating the Mott and Slater pictures for the description of the transition metal oxides. View Full-Text