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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cui, Zhe, Fan, Haoran, Zhou, Wenjiang, Jin, Xianghong, Gu, Yuchen, Ma, Da, Xiao, Cong, Jiang, Hua, Xie, Xincheng, Song, Bai, Li, Yuan, Lin, Xi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.28249
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Table of Contents:
  • Fourier's law dictates that heat flow is usually parallel to the applied temperature gradient. However, under a high magnetic field, heat flow carried by both electrons in conductors and phonons in insulators can be deflected, a phenomenon known as thermal Hall effect. Intriguingly, we observe at zero field a spontaneous thermal Hall effect in an antiferromagnetic insulator. Despite a vanishingly small uncompensated magnetization, the magnitude of this effect is surprisingly large, comparable to typical responses induced by several teslas of external field. This zero-field behavior indicates that charge-neutral heat carriers can be governed by an intrinsic effective field arising from the unique spin arrangement. Our discovery challenges the centuries-old preconception of heat conduction and open up new avenues for exploring non-trivial topological responses in quantum materials.