Thermodynamically Induced Transport Anomaly in Dilute Metals ZrTe5 and HfTe5

Abstract

A 40-year-old puzzle in transition metal pentatellurides ZrTe5 and HfTe5 is the anomalous peak in the temperature dependence of the longitudinal resistivity, which is accompanied by sign reverses of the Hall and Seebeck coefficients. We give a plausible explanation for these phenomena without assuming any phase transition or strong interaction effect. We show that, due to intrinsic thermodynamics and diluteness of the conducting electrons in these materials, the chemical potential displays a strong dependence on the temperature and magnetic field. With that, we compute resistivity, Hall and Seebeck coefficients in zero field, and magnetoresistivity and Hall resistivity in finite magnetic fields, in all of which we reproduce the main features that are observed in experiments.