Odd relaxation in three-dimensional Fermi liquids
Abstract
Recent theoretical works predict a hierarchy of long-lived, non-hydrodynamic modes in two-dimensional Fermi liquids arising from the featuresupposedly unique to two dimensionsthat relaxation by head-on scattering is not efficient in the presence of Pauli blocking. This leads to a parity-based separation of scattering rates, with odd-parity modes relaxing much more slowly than even-parity ones. In this work, we establish that a similar effect exists in isotropic three-dimensional (3D) Fermi liquids, even though relaxation does not proceed solely by head-on scattering. We show that while the relaxation rates of even and odd modes in 3D share the same leading-order low-temperature scaling typical of Fermi liquids, their magnitudes differ, with odd-parity modes relaxing more slowly than even ones for a broad class of interactions. We find a relative difference between odd-parity and even-parity relaxation rates as large as just by Pauli blocking alone, with a strong additional dependence on the scattering potential, such that the odd-even staggering is further enhanced by interactions that favor large-angle scattering. We identify signatures of these odd-parity relaxation rates in the static transverse conductivity as well as the transverse collective mode structure. Our results establish the unexpected existence of a tomographic like regime in higher-dimensional Fermi liquids and suggest experimental probes via transport measurements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.18342,
title = {Odd relaxation in three-dimensional Fermi liquids},
author = {Seth Musser and Sankar Das Sarma and Johannes Hofmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.18342},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
18 pages, 6 figures; updated upon journal acceptance