We develop a conserving relaxation-time approximation (cRTA) based on an explicit energy-resolved projection onto the full space of collision invariants. Our cRTA retains the energy dependence of the nonequilibrium quasiparticle distribution, allowing one to describe transport quantities sensitive to states near, but not exactly on, the Fermi surface (FS). We apply the method to several charge-transport problems in both Galilean-invariant and non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquids. In particular, the cRTA reproduces the low- and high-temperature limits of the dc conductivity of a non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid with disorder, the hydrodynamic and collisionless limits of the finite-wavevector longitudinal conductivity of a clean Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid, and the asymptotic scaling forms of the optical conductivity of a clean non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid beyond the semiclassical limit. For several observables, the agreement with exact solutions is quantitative at the percent level. These results demonstrate that the cRTA provides a simple and accurate framework for describing transport beyond the FS projection.
We develop a conserving relaxation-time approximation (cRTA) based on an explicit energy-resolved projection onto the full space of collision invariants. Our cRTA retains the energy dependence of the nonequilibrium quasiparticle distribution, allowing one to describe transport quantities sensitive to states near, but not exactly on, the Fermi surface (FS). We apply the method to several charge-transport problems in both Galilean-invariant and non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquids. In particular, the cRTA reproduces the low- and high-temperature limits of the dc conductivity of a non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid with disorder, the hydrodynamic and collisionless limits of the finite-wavevector longitudinal conductivity of a clean Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid, and the asymptotic scaling forms of the optical conductivity of a clean non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid beyond the semiclassical limit. For several observables, the agreement with exact solutions is quantitative at the percent level. These results demonstrate that the cRTA provides a simple and accurate framework for describing transport beyond the FS projection.
We obtain an exact expression for the conductivity of a disordered, non-Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid by solving the kinetic equation with both screened Coulomb and z=3 Pomeranchuk critical interactions. While consistent with previous asymptotic results, our solution shows that electron-electron interactions enter the conductivity solely via the quasiparticle scattering time, τee. Accordingly, the crossovers between the collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes occur when 1/τee becomes comparable to the larger of the impurity scattering rate and the probe frequency, Ω. In addition, the exact solution yields the optical response in the hydrodynamic regime, Ω≪1/τee, which is inaccessible within perturbation theory. Near a z=3 Pomeranchuk quantum critical point, consistency between the kinetic-equation and Kubo approaches requires proper inclusion of mass renormalization within the Eliashberg approximation, which also ensures that the crossover between the collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes in the optical conductivity occurs at the Planckian scale Ω∼T.
We study thermalization dynamics in a fermion-phonon variant of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model coupled to an external cold thermal bath of harmonic oscillators. We find that quantum critical fermions thermalize more efficiently than phonons, in sharp contrast to the behavior in the Fermi liquid regime. In addition, after a short prethermal stage, the system acquires a quasithermal distribution given by a time-dependent effective temperature, reminiscent of ``hydrodynamic'' relaxation. All physical observables relax at the same rate which scales with the final temperature through an exponent that depends universally on the low-energy spectrum of the system and the bath. Such relaxation rate is derived using a hydrodynamic approximation in full agreement with the numerical solution of a set quantum kinetic equations derived from the Keldysh formalism for nonequilibrium Green's functions. Our results hint toward further research on the applicability of the hydrodynamic picture in the description of the late time dynamics of open quantum systems despite the absence of conserved quantities in regimes dominated by conserving collisions.
Modern quantum materials host a wide range of electronic phases in which transport properties are governed by strong interactions and collective effects. This thesis investigates charge, heat, and momentum transport in interacting electronic systems across different theoretical frameworks, ranging from Fermi liquid theory to strongly coupled strange metals.The first part of the thesis focuses on two-dimensional Fermi liquids at finite temperature, where rapid electron-electron scattering can give rise to hydrodynamic behavior. A kinetic-theory framework allowing an exact treatment of quasiparticle distribution functions beyond the asymptotic low-temperature regime is used to compute the full spectrum of collective modes, providing a detailed characterization of long-lived odd-parity excitations and the intermediate transport regime between ballistic and hydrodynamic flow. The same framework is employed to determine the shear viscosity of interacting electron liquids beyond conventional perturbative limits.The second part of the thesis concerns strongly interacting quantum systems where the quasiparticle picture breaks down.Holographic duality is used to study transport and thermoelectric response in quantum critical systems subject to periodic potentials, providing a controlled framework for momentum relaxation and magnetotransport in non-Fermi liquids. The thesis further develops holographic models of collective charge dynamics in systems with dynamical electromagnetism, including bulk plasmons and surface plasmon polaritons, and explores connections between Fermi surface physics and holographic gauge-field dynamics.
We derive the Boltzmann equation describing long-wavelength low-frequency transport and relaxation processes in a superfluid Fermi liquid close to the transition temperature Tc. In the superfluid, the quasiparticle number is not conserved and therefore one has to take into account the decay of one quasiparticle into three and the inverse process, as well as the two-quasiparticle scattering process. We calculate the collision term in the Boltzmann equation to first order in the superfluid gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ and show that it is related rather simply to the corresponding normal-state collision term. As applications of the Boltzmann equation, we solve it exactly to calculate the shear viscosity, and the intrinsic spin relaxation rate. The shear viscosity drops as $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\propto}{({T}_{c}\ensuremath{-}T)}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ for temperatures just below Tc, and we determine the coefficient of $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ as a function of the normal-state collision probability. Leggett and Takagi's characteristic spin-relaxation time is shown to be equal to the relaxation time of a normal-state quasiparticle at the Fermi energy at Tc. The results provide one with a useful consistency check on experimental measurements which is independent of any assumption about the normal-state collision probability.
Abstract The low-temperature properties of a wide range of many-fermion systems spanning metals, quantum gases and liquids to nuclear matter are well understood within the framework of Landau’s theory of Fermi liquids. The low-energy physics of these systems is governed by interacting fermionic quasiparticles with momenta and energies near a Fermi surface in momentum space. Nonequilibrium properties are described by a kinetic equation for the distribution function for quasiparticles proposed by Landau. Quasiparticle interactions with other quasiparticles, phonons, or impurities lead to internal forces acting on a distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles, as well as collision processes that ultimately limit the transport of mass, heat, charge, and magnetization, as well as limiting the coherence times of quasiparticles. For Fermi liquids that are close to a second-order phase transition, e.g., Fermi liquids that undergo a superfluid transition, incipient Cooper pairs—long-lived fluctuations of the ordered phase—provide a new channel for scattering quasiparticles, as well as corrections to internal forces acting on the distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles. We develop the theory of quasiparticle transport for Fermi liquids in the vicinity of a BCS-type superfluid transition starting from Keldysh’s field theory for nonequilibrium, strongly interacting fermions. The leading corrections to Fermi-liquid theory for nonequilibrium quasiparticle transport near a Cooper instability arise from the virtual emission and absorption of incipient Cooper pairs. Our theory is applicable to quasiparticle transport in superconductors, nuclear matter, and the low-temperature phases of liquid 3He. As an implementation of the theory we calculate the pairing-fluctuation corrections to the attenuation of zero sound in liquid 3He near the superfluid transition and demonstrate quantitative agreement with experimental results.
A precise characterization of the recently discovered crossover to hydrodynamic transport in electron liquids, and in particular of a conjectured exotic odd-parity transport regime, requires a full solution of the Fermi-liquid collision integral at all temperatures beyond state-of-the-art analytic leading-logarithmic approximations. We develop a general basis expansion of the linearized collision integral applicable at all temperatures, and employ this to determine the decay rates of Fermi surface perturbations in two-dimensional electron liquids. In particular, we provide exhaustive data on the decay rates for a new odd-parity regime, in which parity-even Fermi surface deformations decay rapidly but odd-parity modes are anomalously longlived. We find that this transport regime exists at fairly large temperatures $T\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.1\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{T}_{F}$, putting this regime within the reach of current experiments.