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Title: Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature

Abstract

This work presents detailed analyses of magnetoconductivities in a Weyl semimetal within the Born and self-consistent Born approximations. In the presence of charged impurities, linear magnetoresistance can occur when the charge carriers are mainly from the zeroth (n = 0) Landau level. Interestingly, the linear magnetoresistance is very robust against changes of temperature as long as the charge carriers come mainly from the zeroth Landau level. We denote this parameter regime as the high-field regime. In contrast, the linear magnetoresistance disappears once the charge carriers from the higher Landau levels can provide notable contributions. Our analysis indicates that the deviation from linear magnetoresistance is mainly due to the deviation of the longitudinal conductivity from 1/B behavior. We discovered two important features of the self-energy approximation: (i) A dramatic jump of σxx , when the n = 1 Landau level begins to contribute charge carriers, which is the beginning point of the middle-field regime, when decreasing the external magnetic field from high field; (ii) in the low-field regime, σxx exhibits B -5/3 behavior, causing the magnetoresistance ρxx to exhibit B1/3 behavior. A detailed and careful numerical calculation indicates that the self-energy approximation (including both the Born and the self-consistent Born approximations)more » does not explain the recent experimental observation of linear magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetals.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1511839
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1395920
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-03ER46076; FG01-03-ER46076
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 96; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Xiao, Xiao, Law, K. T., and Lee, P. A. Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevb.96.165101.
Xiao, Xiao, Law, K. T., & Lee, P. A. Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.96.165101
Xiao, Xiao, Law, K. T., and Lee, P. A. Mon . "Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.96.165101. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1511839.
@article{osti_1511839,
title = {Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature},
author = {Xiao, Xiao and Law, K. T. and Lee, P. A.},
abstractNote = {This work presents detailed analyses of magnetoconductivities in a Weyl semimetal within the Born and self-consistent Born approximations. In the presence of charged impurities, linear magnetoresistance can occur when the charge carriers are mainly from the zeroth (n = 0) Landau level. Interestingly, the linear magnetoresistance is very robust against changes of temperature as long as the charge carriers come mainly from the zeroth Landau level. We denote this parameter regime as the high-field regime. In contrast, the linear magnetoresistance disappears once the charge carriers from the higher Landau levels can provide notable contributions. Our analysis indicates that the deviation from linear magnetoresistance is mainly due to the deviation of the longitudinal conductivity from 1/B behavior. We discovered two important features of the self-energy approximation: (i) A dramatic jump of σxx , when the n = 1 Landau level begins to contribute charge carriers, which is the beginning point of the middle-field regime, when decreasing the external magnetic field from high field; (ii) in the low-field regime, σxx exhibits B -5/3 behavior, causing the magnetoresistance ρxx to exhibit B1/3 behavior. A detailed and careful numerical calculation indicates that the self-energy approximation (including both the Born and the self-consistent Born approximations) does not explain the recent experimental observation of linear magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetals.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevb.96.165101},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 16,
volume = 96,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 02 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Oct 02 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 17 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: (a) the diagrammatic expression of self-energy approximation due to the charge impurities; (b) the diagrammatic expression of the magneto-conductivity $σ_{ij}$. In the figure, the solid line denotes the Green’s function, the dashed line denotes the impurity scattering, and the dot denotes the velocity vertex.

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Corrections to the magnetoresistance formula for semimetals with Dirac electrons: the Boltzmann equation approach validated by the Kubo formula
journal, October 2018

  • Owada, Mitsuaki; Awashima, Yudai; Fuseya, Yuki
  • Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 30, Issue 44
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Thermoelectric transport coefficients of a Dirac electron gas in high magnetic fields
journal, October 2019


Positive longitudinal spin magnetoconductivity in Z 2 topological Dirac semimetals
journal, December 2019


Disorder and magnetoconductivity in tilted Weyl semimetals
journal, February 2020


Magnetoresistance of a three-dimensional Dirac gas
journal, November 2018


Disorder and magnetoconductivity in tilted Weyl semimetals
text, January 2020


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