Resistivity bound for hydrodynamic bad metals | CU Experts

Significance; ; In conventional metals, momentum-relaxing scattering determines the electrical resistivity. In contrast, the resistivity of many strongly correlated metals, across multiple portions of their phase diagrams, is controlled by the electronic mean free path for momentum-conserving interactions; ; ; ; ; ρ; ; ∝; ; 1; /; ; ℓ; ee; ; ; ; ; ; . We propose that this universality arises in a hydrodynamic limit, where; ; ; ; ℓ; ee; ; ; ; is short. In this limit, we prove that the resistivity can be bounded by incoherent diffusion constants associated with momentum-conserving collisions. In the presence of a nonthermal incoherent diffusive mode—such as an imbalance mode for the charge in different Fermi bands—we find that saturation of our diffusion-limited transport bound implies; ; ; ; ; ρ; ; ∝; ; 1; /; ; ℓ; ee; ; ; ; ; ; , as observed in experiments.;

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