Abstract
We investigate transport in strongly correlated metals. Within dynamical mean-field theory, we calculate the resistivity, thermopower, optical conductivity and thermodynamic properties of a hole-doped Mott insulator. Two well-separated temperature scales are identified: below which Landau Fermi liquid behavior applies, and above which the resistivity exceeds the Mott-Ioffe-Regel value and bad-metal behavior is found. We show that quasiparticle excitations remain well defined above and dominate transport throughout the intermediate regime . The lifetime of these resilient quasiparticles is longer for electronlike excitations and this pronounced particle-hole asymmetry has important consequences for the thermopower. The crossover into the bad-metal regime corresponds to the disappearance of these excitations and has clear signatures in optical spectroscopy.
- Received 4 October 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.086401
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