Magnetic Field Effects in the Pseudogap Phase: A Precursor Superconductivity Scenario

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We demonstrate that the observed dependences of Tc and T* on small magnetic fields can be readily understood in a precursor superconductivity approach to the pseudogap phase. In this approach, the presence of a pseudogap at Tc (but not at T*) and the associated suppression of the density of states lead to very different sensitivities to pair-breaking perturbations for the two temperatures. Our semi-quantitative results address the puzzling experimental observation that the coherence length ξ is weakly dependent on hole concentration x throughout most of the phase diagram. We present our results in a form which can be compared with the recent experiments of Shibauchi et al, and argue that orbital effects contribute in an important way to the H dependence of T*.