Heat transport in ZrTe₅ shows signs of fluid-like flow
Thermal conductivity and effective mean free path changed unusually in the same temperature window.
Chang-woo Cho, Peipei Wang, Liyuan Zhang and colleagues compared heat and charge transport in ZrTe₅. Between the ballistic and diffusive regimes, thermal conductivity grew faster with temperature than in the ballistic regime, and the inferred mean free path varied nonmonotonically.
Together these observations support a hydrodynamic-like regime. The magnetic-field dependence of thermal conductivity suggests that charged quasiparticles, as well as lattice vibrations, may participate in the flow.