  The carriers in the high-Tc cuprates are found to be polaron-like "stripons"
carrying charge and located in stripe-like inhomogeneities, "quasi-electrons"
carrying charge and spin, and "svivons" carrying spin and some lattice
distortion. The anomalous spectroscopic and transport properties of the
cuprates are understood. The stripe-like inhomogeneities result from the Bose
condensation of the svivon field, and the speed of their dynamics is determined
by the width of the double-svivon neutron-resonance peak. The connection of
this peak to the peak-dip-hump gap structure observed below Tc emerges
naturally. Pairing results from transitions between pair states of stripons and
quasi-electrons through the exchange of svivons. The pairing symmetry is of the
d_{x^2-y^2} type; however, sign reversal through the charged stripes results in
features not characteristic of this symmetry. The phase diagram is determined
by pairing and coherence lines within the regime of a Mott transition.
Coherence without pairing results in a Fermi-liquid state, and incoherent
pairing results in the pseudogap state where localized electron and electron
pair states exist within the Hubbard gap. A metal-insulator-transition quantum
critical point occurs between these two states at T=0 when the superconducting
state is suppressed. An intrinsic heterogeneity is expected of superconducting
and pseudogap nanoscale regions.
