Thermodynamically Induced Transport Anomaly in Dilute Metals ZrTe${}_5$ and HfTe${}_5$

Abstract

A 40-year-old puzzle in transition metal pentatellurides ZrTe${}_5$ and HfTe${}_5$ is the anomalous peak in the temperature dependence of the longitudinal resistivity, which is accompanied by sign reverses of the Hall and Seebeck coefficients. We give a plausible explanation for these phenomena without assuming any phase transition or strong interaction effect. We show that due to intrinsic thermodynamics and diluteness of the conducting electrons in these materials, the chemical potential displays a strong dependence on the temperature and magnetic field. With that, we compute resistivity, Hall and Seebeck coefficients in zero field, and magnetoresistivity and Hall resistivity in finite magnetic fields, in all of which we reproduce the main features that are observed in experiments.

6+7 pages, 4+3 figures. Added Appendix C. Published version

References in corpus (4)

• The electronic properties of graphene
• Lifshitz transition mediated electronic transport anomaly in bulk ZrTe5
• Observation and control of the weak topological insulator state in ZrTe5
• Dirac Polarons and Resistivity Anomaly in ZrTe5 and HfTe5

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• Quantum oscillations and three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in ZrTe${}_5$
• Band Structure Driven Thermoelectric Response of Topological Semiconductor ZrTe${}_5$
• Gate-tunable multiband transport in ZrTe5 thin devices
• Nonlinear transport due to magnetic-field-induced flat bands in the nodal-line semimetal ZrTe5
• First-principles methodology for studying magnetotransport in narrow-gap semiconductors: an application to Zirconium Pentatelluride ZrTe5
• Quantum-Hall physics and three dimensions
• Propagation of longitudinal acoustic phonons in ZrTe${}_5$ exposed to a quantizing magnetic field
• Magnetic field driven Lifshitz transition and one-dimensional Weyl nodes in three-dimensional pentatellurides
• Theory of anomalous Hall effect in transition-metal pentatelluride ${\mathrm{ZrTe}}_5$ and ${\mathrm{HfTe}}_5$
• On the effects of strain, defects, and interactions on the topological properties of HfTe5
• Giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport in low-density metals via electron absorption of phonons
• Nernst Plateau in the Quantum Limit of Low-Carrier-Density Topological Insulators