Thermal transport in granular metals

We study the electron thermal transport in granular metals at large tunnel conductance between the grains, $g_T \gg 1$ and not too low a temperature $T > g_T\delta$, where $\delta$ is the mean energy level spacing for a single grain. Taking into account the electron-electron interaction effects we calculate the thermal conductivity and show that the Wiedemann-Franz law is violated for granular metals. We find that interaction effects suppress the thermal conductivity less than the electrical conductivity.Comment: Replaced with published versio

Effects of proximity to an electronic topological transition on normal state transport properties of the high-Tc superconductors

Within the time dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, the effects of the superconducting fluctuations on the transport properties above the critical temperature are characterized by a non-zero imaginary part of the relaxation rate gamma of the order parameter. Here, we evaluate Im gamma for an anisotropic dispersion relation typical of the high-Tc cuprate superconductors (HTS), characterized by a proximity to an electronic topological transition (ETT). We find that Im gamma abruptly changes sign at the ETT as a function of doping, in agreement with the universal behavior of the HTS. We also find that an increase of the in-plane anisotropy, as is given by a non-zero value of the next-nearest to nearest hopping ratio r=t'/t, increases the value of | Im gamma | close to the ETT, as well as its singular behavior at low temperature, therefore enhancing the effect of superconducting fluctuations. Such a result is in qualitative agreement with the available data for the excess Hall conductivity for several cuprates and cuprate superlattices.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.