PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM
Speaker: Dr. A. Rosch (Köln)
Date: Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Time: 16:45 h (coffee/tea at 16:15 h in front of auditorium)
Place: ETH Hönggerberg, HPV G4
Title: Surprises in Transport Theory
Abstract:
Even in systems where thermodynamic properties are well understood, transport can be full of surprises. For example tiny amounts of disorder can completely change the resistivity in a metal close to a quantum phase transitions. In one-dimensional and quasi one-dimensional systems the heat and charge transport is often governed by (approximate) symmetries such that typically not the strongest but the second strongest scattering process determines heat and charge transport. We discuss how these effects can explain the huge heat conductivities observed in spin-chain and spin-ladder compounds.