Contribution of Berry Curvature to Thermoelectric Effects

Abstract

Within the semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory, the formula for Seebeck coefficient S is derived for an isotropic two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) system that exhibits anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) originating from Berry curvature on their bands. Deviation of S from the value S 0 estimated neglecting Berry curvarture is computed for a special case of 2DEG with Zeeman and Rashba terms. The result shows that, under certain conditions the contribution of Berry curvature to Seebeck effect could be non-negligible. Further study is needed to clarify the effect of additional contributions from mechanisms of AHE and ANE other than pure Berry curvature.