On the origin and the amplitude of T-square resistivity in Fermi liquids

Abstract

In 1937, Baber, Landau and Pomeranchuk postulated that collisions between electrons generates a contribution to the electric resistivity of metals with a distinct T$^2$ temperature dependence. The amplitude of this term is small in common metals, but dominant in metals hosting either heavy carriers or a low concentration of them. The link between the temperature dependence and the size of the scattering phase space is straightforward, but not the microscopic source of dissipation. To explain how electron-electron collisions lead to momentum leak, Umklapp events or multiple electron reservoirs have been invoked. This interpretation is challenged by a number of experimental observations: the persistence of T-square resistivity in dilute metals (in which the two mechanisms are irrelevant), the successful extension of Kadowaki-Woods scaling to dilute metals, and the observation of a size-dependent T-square thermal resistivity ($T/κ$) and its Wiedemann-Franz (WF) correlation with T-square electrical resistivity. This paper argues that much insight is provided by the case of normal liquid $^3$He where the T-square temperature dependence of energy and momentum diffusivity is driven by fermion-fermion collisions. The amplitude of T-square resistivity in $^3$He and in metals share a common scaling. Thus, the ubiquitous T-square electrical resistivity ultimately stems from the Fermi-liquid temperature dependence of momentum diffusivity.