The 3d-to-4s-by-2p highway to superconductivity in cuprates

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High-temperature superconductors are nowadays found in great variety and hold technological promise. It is still an unsolved mystery that the critical temperature Tc of the basic cuprates is so high. The answer might well be hidden in a conventional corner of theoretical physics, overlooked in the recent hunt for exotic explanations of new effects in these materials. A forgotten intra-atomic s-d two-electron exchange in the Cu atom is found to provide a strong (eV) electron pairing interaction. A Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approach can explain the main experimental observations and predict the correct dₓ₂₋y₂ symmetry of the gap.