  The mechanism of the pseudogap observed in hole-doped cuprates remains one of
the central puzzles in condensed matter physics. We analyze this phenomenon via
a Feynman-diagrammatic inspection of the Hubbard model. Our approach captures
the pivotal interplay between Mott localization and Fermi surface topology
beyond weak-coupling spin fluctuations, which would open a spectral gap near
hot spots. We show that strong coupling and particle-hole asymmetry trigger a
very different mechanism: a large imaginary part of the spin-fermion vertex
promotes damping of antinodal fermions and, at the same time, protects the
nodal Fermi arcs (antidamping). Our analysis naturally explains puzzling
features of the pseudogap observed in experiments, such as Fermi arcs being cut
off at the antiferromagnetic zone boundary and the subordinate role of hot
spots.
