We study staggered flux fluctuations around the superconducting state of the SU(2) mean-field theory for the two-dimensional $t\mathrm{\text{−}}J$ model and their effect on the electron spectral function. The quasiparticle peaks near $(\pi ,0),(0,\pi )$ get strongly broadened and partially wiped out by these fluctuations while the quasiparticle peaks near the nodes of the $d$-wave gap are preserved over a wide parameter range. The strength of these effects is governed by an energy scale that decreases towards zero for doping $x\to 0$ and that is related to the energy splitting between the SU(2)-related superconducting and staggered flux mean-field states.

• Received 5 December 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.246402