Theory of transport property of density wave phases in three-dimensional metals and semimetals under high magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding the transport properties of density wave phases in 3D metals and semimetals under high magnetic fields, linking bosonic models, Green functions, and spectral functions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach connecting XY models, magnetic monopoles, and spectral functions to analyze density wave phases under magnetic fields.

Findings

Spectral function shows low-energy features from phason fluctuations.

Transport calculations include effects of charge fluctuations and disorder.

Relevance to surface chiral Fermi arc states is discussed.

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) metals/semimetals under magnetic field have an instability toward a density wave (DW) ordering which breaks a translational symmetry along the field direction. Effective boson models for the DW phases take forms of XY models with/without Potts terms. Longitudinal conductivity along the field direction is calculated in the DW phases with inclusion of effects of low-energy charge fluctuation (phason) and disorder. A single-particle imaginary-time Green function is identified with a partition function of 3D XY models in the presence of pairs of magnetic monopoles. In terms of the celebrated electromagnetic duality, electronic spectral function is calculated near the DW phase transition. The result shows that the single-particle spectral function acquires an additional low-energy feature due to the strong phason fluctuation. Relevance to an in-plane conductance due to surface chiral Fermi arc states are also discussed.