What controls the phase diagram and superconductivity in Ru-substituted BaFe ₂As ₂?

We use high resolution angle-resolved photoemission to study the electronic structure of the iron based high-temperature superconductors Ba(Fe _1-xRu _x) ₂As ₂ as a function of Ru concentration. We find that substitution of Ru for Fe is isoelectronic, i.e., it does not change the value of the chemical potential. More interestingly, there are no measured, significant changes in the shape of the Fermi surface or in the Fermi velocity over a wide range of substitution levels (0<x<0.55). Given that the suppression of the antiferromagnetic and structural phase is associated with the emergence of the superconducting state, Ru substitution must achieve this via a mechanism that does not involve changes of the Fermi surface. We speculate that this mechanism relies on magnetic dilution which leads to the reduction of the effective Stoner enhancement.