2012/10/11 by Gia-Wei Chern, Saurabh Maiti, Rafael M. Fernandes +2
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Coulomb #Electron #Materials science #Multiferroics and related materials #Nuclear materials and radiation effects #Nuclear physics #Phase (matter) #Physics #Pyrochlore #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin ice #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.110.146602
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 146602 (2013) · 5 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2012/10/11 · openalex publication_date 2013/04/02 · arxiv updated 2013/04/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate the transport properties of itinerant electrons interacting with a background of localized spins in a correlated paramagnetic phase of the pyrochlore lattice. We find a residual resistivity at zero temperature due to the scattering of electrons by the static dipolar spin-spin correlation that characterizes the metallic Coulomb phase. As temperature increases, thermally excited topological defects, also known as magnetic monopoles, reduce the spin correlation, hence suppressing electron scattering. Combined with the usual scattering processes in metals at higher temperatures, this mechanism yields a nonmonotonic resistivity, displaying a minimum at temperature scales associated with the magnetic monopole excitation energy. Our calculations agree quantitatively with resistivity measurements in Nd(2)Ir(2)O(7) and Pr(2)Ir(2)O(7), shedding light on the origin of the resistivity minimum observed in metallic spin-ice compounds.