Two-dimensional electron hydrodynamics in a random array of impenetrable obstacles: Magnetoresistivity, Hall viscosity, and the Landauer dipole

TL;DR

This paper develops a hydrodynamic framework to analyze electron flow around obstacles in a magnetic field, revealing effects like Hall viscosity-induced electric field rotation, negative magnetoresistance, and a connection to Landauer dipoles.

Contribution

It introduces a linear-response hydrodynamic model for electron flow past obstacles, incorporating Hall viscosity effects and linking resistivity to electric dipoles and Landauer dipoles.

Findings

Hall viscosity causes electric field rotation outside and inside obstacles.

Magnetic field enhances hydrodynamic lubrication, leading to negative magnetoresistance.

Hall viscosity modifies the Hall resistivity and the effective magnetic field.

Abstract

We formulate a general framework to study the flow of the electron liquid in two dimensions past a random array of impenetrable obstacles in the presence of a magnetic field. We derive a linear-response formula for the resistivity tensor $\hat\rho$ in hydrodynamics with obstacles, which expresses $\hat\rho$ in terms of the vorticity and its harmonic conjugate, both on the boundary of obstacles. In the limit of rare obstacles, in which we calculate $\hat\rho$, the contributions of the flow-induced electric field to the dissipative resistivity from the area covered by the liquid and the area inside obstacles are shown to be equal to each other. We demonstrate that the averaged electric fields outside and inside obstacles are rotated by Hall viscosity from the direction of flow. For the diffusive boundary condition on the obstacles, this effect exactly cancels in $\hat\rho$. By contrast, for the specular boundary condition, the total electric field is rotated by Hall viscosity, which means the emergence of a Hall-viscosity-induced effective -- proportional to the obstacle density -- magnetic field. Its effect on the Hall resistivity is particularly notable in that it leads to a deviation of the Hall constant from its universal value. We show that the applied magnetic field enhances hydrodynamic lubrication, giving rise to a strong negative magnetoresistance. We combine the hydrodynamic and electrostatic perspectives by discussing the distribution of charges that create the flow-induced electric field around obstacles. We provide a connection between the tensor $\hat\rho$ and the disorder-averaged electric dipole induced by viscosity at the obstacle. This establishes a conceptual link between the resistivity in hydrodynamics with obstacles and the notion of the Landauer dipole. We show that the viscosity-induced dipole is rotated from the direction of flow by Hall viscosity.