“Hot spots” in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors

Abstract

The distribution of the electron scattering rate on the Fermi surface of a quasi-one-dimensional conductor is calculated for the electron-electron umklapp interaction. We find that in certain regions on the Fermi surface the scattering rate is anomalously high. The reason for the existence of these “hot spots” is analogous to the appearance of the van Hove singularities in the density of states. We employ a generalized τ-approximation (where the scattering integral in the Boltzmann equation is replaced by the scattering time which depends on the position at the Fermi surface) to study the dependence of the electric resistance on the amplitude and the orientation of a magnetic field. We find that the “hot spots” do not produce a considerable magnetoresistance or commensurability effects at the “magic angles”.