Magnetoresistance of a Wigner liquid in a parallel magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper explores how clusters of electrons in a strongly correlated two-dimensional system influence magnetoresistance and conductivity, revealing a model that explains resistivity increase, metal-insulator transition, and nonlinear magnetization behavior under a parallel magnetic field.

Contribution

It introduces a model considering electron clusters in a Wigner liquid, explaining magnetoresistance and phase transition phenomena in 2D electron systems under magnetic fields.

Findings

Resistivity increases with magnetic field leading to a metal-insulator transition.

Resistivity varies linearly with temperature near the transition.

Magnetization exhibits nonlinear dependence on magnetic field.

Abstract

It is assumed that in a two-dimensional electron system with strong correlation (a Wigner liquid), appearance of some relatively slow-moving objects (clusters) composed of small number of electrons is possible. Such clusters may exist in addition to ordinary mobile carriers of the Fermi type. They can pin to inhomogeneities and play the role of additional scatterers. The clusters composed of two and three electrons are discussed (for near order as in triangular lattice). The number of the clusters depends on temperature and a parallel magnetic field (so accordingly for conductivity and magnetization). In the frame of a simple model, a resistivity increasing and a metal-insulator transition with an increasing of a magnetic field are proved. Near this transition, the resistivity changes with temperature according to a linear law. The model gives a nonlinear dependence of magnetization on a magnetic field.