Memory-function conductivity formula and transport coefficients in underdoped cuprates

The two-band memory-function conductivity formula is derived from the quantum kinetic equation in the pseudogap state of underdoped cuprates. The conduction electrons are described by using the adiabatic version of the nested Fermi liquid model, and the effects of Mott correlations are taken into account phenomenologically. The linear dependence of the low-temperature effective number of conduction electrons on the doping level δ (for not too large δ) is found to be in agreement with experimental observation. The momentum distribution function turns out to play an important role in describing temperature effects. The closing of the antiferromagnetic pseudogap at temperatures of the order of room temperature is shown to be a direct consequence of a relatively large width of the quasiparticle peak in this distribution function. The coupling of conduction electrons to external magnetic fields is included in the two-band transport equations in the usual semiclassical way. It is shown that the low-temperature Hall number is proportional to δ as well (again for not too large δ) and that it exhibits singular behaviour when the Fermi surface changes from the hole-like shape into the electron-like shape.