Thermal conductivity and theory of inelastic scattering of phonons by collective fluctuations

Abstract

Understanding thermal Hall conductivity poses a theoretical challenge in insulators, where low-energy excitations carry no charge. In undoped cuprates, where the signal is large, we expect phonons contribute significantly to the effect. While there is no obvious universal mechanism whereby phonons break time-reversal symmetry and acquire chirality, this paper provides a general treatment of the phonon Hall effect from the inelastic scattering of phonons off of other excitations in quantum materials. As an application, magnetoelastic coupling in square-lattice N\'eel antiferromagnets is investigated thoroughly using the formalism developed in the first part of the paper.

Topics & Concepts