A negative magnetothermopower signal in ZrTe₅
Comparing electrical and thermoelectric measurements exposed quadratic field terms in both responses.
Wenjie Zhang, Peipei Wang, Liyuan Zhang and colleagues applied a magnetic field along the temperature gradient in ZrTe₅. Alongside the previously reported negative magnetoresistance, they detected a negative longitudinal magnetothermopower, adding a distinct test of the transport mechanism.
Both magnetoconductivity and magnetothermopower contained quadratic field terms, with the latter coefficient about twice as large. The authors found this consistent with a chiral-anomaly interpretation and also examined current jetting, impurity scattering and spin-related explanations.