Temperature evolution of the spectral peak in high-temperature superconductors - art. no. 140508

Recent photoemission data in the high-temperature cuprate superconductor Bi 2212 have been interpreted in terms of a sharp spectral peak with a tempera ture-independent lifetime, whose weight strongly decreases upon heating. By a detailed analysis of the data, we are able to extract the temperature de pendence of the electron self-energy, and demonstrate that this interpretat ion is misleading. Rather, the spectral peak loses its integrity above T-c due to a large reduction in the electron lifetime.