Resistivity of non-Galilean-invariant Fermi- and non-Fermi liquids

• Main Authors: Pal, H. K, Yudson, V. I, Maslov, D. L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 02-07-2012
• Subjects: Physics - Other Condensed Matter; Physics - Strongly Correlated Electrons
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1204.3591

Lith. J. Phys. 52, 142 (2012) While it is well-known that the electron-electron (\emph{ee}) interaction
cannot affect the resistivity of a Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid (FL), the
reverse statement is not necessarily true: the resistivity of a
non-Galilean-invariant FL does not necessarily follow a T^2 behavior. The T^2
behavior is guaranteed only if Umklapp processes are allowed; however, if the
Fermi surface (FS) is small or the electron-electron interaction is of a very
long range, Umklapps are suppressed. In this case, a T^2 term can result only
from a combined--but distinct from quantum-interference corrections-- effect of
the electron-impurity and \emph{ee} interactions. Whether the T^2 term is
present depends on 1) dimensionality (two dimensions (2D) vs three dimensions
(3D)), 2) topology (simply- vs multiply-connected), and 3) shape (convex vs
concave) of the FS. In particular, the T^2 term is absent for any quadratic
(but not necessarily isotropic) spectrum both in 2D and 3D. The T^2 term is
also absent for a convex and simply-connected but otherwise arbitrarily
anisotropic FS in 2D. The origin of this nullification is approximate
integrability of the electron motion on a 2D FS, where the energy and momentum
conservation laws do not allow for current relaxation to leading
--second--order in T/E_F (E_F is the Fermi energy). If the T^2 term is
nullified by the conservation law, the first non-zero term behaves as T^4. The
same applies to a quantum-critical metal in the vicinity of a Pomeranchuk
instability, with a proviso that the leading (first non-zero) term in the
resistivity scales as T^{\frac{D+2}{3}} (T^{\frac{D+8}{3}}). We discuss a
number of situations when integrability is weakly broken, e.g., by inter-plane
hopping in a quasi-2D metal or by warping of the FS as in the surface states of
Bi_2Te_3 family of topological insulators.