Optical excitations from a flux phase

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Abstract
We calculate the optical conductivity σ(ω) of a model ‘‘flux phase,’’ i.e., a condensed many-fermion state on a two-dimensional lattice characterized by nonvanishing orbital currents of the underlying fermions. In addition to a Drude-like term, it is found that there is a temperature (T) independent broadband absorption corresponding to vertical interband excitations near a point Fermi surface. Scattering of the quasiparticle excitations by acoustic phonons leads to a resistivity that is proportional to T, even as T→0.