Semiclassical theory of anomalous transport in type-II topological Weyl semimetals

Timothy M. McCormick, Robert C. McKay, and Nandini Trivedi
Phys. Rev. B 96, 235116 – Published 12 December 2017

Abstract

Weyl semimetals possess low-energy excitations which act as monopoles of Berry curvature in momentum space. These emergent monopoles are at the heart of the many novel transport properties that Weyl semimetals exhibit. The singular nature of the Berry curvature around the nodal points in Weyl semimetals allows for the possibility of large anomalous transport coefficients in zero applied magnetic field. Recently, a new class, termed type-II Weyl semimetals, has been demonstrated in a variety of materials, where the Weyl nodes are tilted. We present here a theoretical study of anomalous transport in this new class of Weyl semimetals. We find that the parameter governing the tilt of these type-II Weyl points is intimately related to the zero-field transverse transport properties. We also find that the temperature dependence of the chemical potential plays an important role in determining how the transport coefficients can effectively probe the Berry curvature of the type-II Weyl points. In particular, we find that the transverse thermoelectric transport coefficient LxyET is strongly enhanced with the tilt of the type-II Weyl nodes and with increasing temperature. We also discuss the experimental implications of our work for time-reversal breaking type-II Weyl semimetals.

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  • Received 10 August 2017
  • Revised 1 November 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.235116

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Timothy M. McCormick*, Robert C. McKay, and Nandini Trivedi

  • Department of Physics and Center for Emergent Materials, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA

  • *mccormick.288@osu.edu
  • trivedi.15@osu.edu

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 23 — 15 December 2017

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