Antiferromagnetic and van Hove Scenarios for the Cuprates: Taking the Best of Both Worlds

New ideas for the high-temperature superconductors are discussed. Holes are assumed to be spin-½, charge $e$ quasiparticles strongly dressed by spin fluctuations. Calculating their dispersion, we claim that the van Hove singularities of the cuprates are caused by antiferromagnetic correlations. From the two carriers problem in the 2D $t-J$ model, an effective Hamiltonian for holes is defined. This effective model has superconductivity in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ channel, $T_c\sim 100$ K, an optimal hole density of about $x=0.15\mathrm{}$, and a quasiparticle lifetime linearly dependent with energy.