"Thermal Conductivity of Spin-1/2 Chains"
Prof. Efrat Shimshoni
Dept. of Math-Physics, University of Haifa at Oranim
In physical systems characterized by approximate conservation
laws, transport properties are strongly dominated by slow decay
rates of the nearly conserved currents. I will discuss a particular
manifestation of this phenomenon in the low-temperature heat
transport of one-dimensional spin-1/2 chains coupled to phonons.
The contribution of spin excitations (spinons) to the thermal
conductivity is analyzed, and found to be in remarkable agreement
with prominent features of the experimental data in SrCuO compounds.
I will also discuss predictions of dramatic effects induced by
an externally applied magnetic field in such systems.
Host:
Dr. Ron Lifshitz, x5145
|