{
  "id": "2105.08228",
  "version": "v2",
  "published": "2021-05-18T01:54:15.000Z",
  "updated": "2021-07-31T07:46:21.000Z",
  "title": "Theory of thermoelectric effect in insulators",
  "authors": [
    "Yugo Onishi",
    "Hiroki Isobe",
    "Naoto Nagaosa"
  ],
  "comment": "4 pages, 2 figures",
  "categories": [
    "cond-mat.mes-hall"
  ],
  "abstract": "We propose a thermopolarization effect with a purely electronic origin, where the electric polarization $P$ is induced by the temperature gradient $\\nabla T$. This is observable as a Seebeck effect in a finite-size system where the linear size $L$ is shorter than the Debye length $\\lambda$, which characterizes the screening due to the thermal excitation of free carriers. The dual effect is the ac heat current induced by the time derivative of the electric field $E$. The Seebeck coefficient $S$ diverges as $\\sim t_{\\mathrm{asym}}/eT$ when the temperature $T$ goes to $0$, where $t_{\\mathrm{asym}}$ represents the asymmetry of the conduction band and the valence band and $e$ is the elementary charge.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v2",
      "updated": "2021-07-31T07:46:21.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "thermoelectric effect",
      "insulators",
      "ac heat current",
      "thermopolarization effect",
      "valence band"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 4,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}