Spin–1 Neutron Resonance Peak Cannot Account for Electronic Anomalies in the Cuprate Superconductors

In certain cuprates, a spin-1 resonance mode is prominent in the magnetic structure measured by neutron scattering. It has been proposed that this mode is responsible for significant features seen in other spectroscopies, such as photoemission and optical absorption, which are sensitive to the charge dynamics, and even that this mode is the boson responsible for “mediating” the superconducting pairing. We show that its small (measured) intensity and weak coupling to electron-hole pairs (as deduced from the measured lifetime) disqualifies the resonant mode from either proposed role.