  The author reports on new high-fidelity simulations of charge carriers in the
high-T$_c$ cuprate materials using quantum Monte Carlo techniques applied to
the first principles Hamiltonian. With this high accuracy technique, the doped
ground state is found to be a spin polaron, in which charge is localized
through a strong interaction with the spin. This spin polaron has calculated
properties largely similar to the phenomenology of the cuprates, and may be the
object which forms the Fermi surface and charge inhomogeneity in these
materials. The spin polaron has some unique features that should be visible in
X-ray, EELS, and neutron experiments. The results contained in this paper
comprise an accurate first principles derived paradigm from which to study
superconductivity in the cuprates.
