A GENERALIZED VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE FOR TRANSPORT PHENOMENA

Abstract

A generalized variational principle has been formulated which takes the phonon distribution functions and the external magnetic field into account, is valid for an arbitrary direction of the electric field and polarization of the lattice vibrations, and does not depend on any special form of the energy surfaces. The various transport coefficients, for both thermoelectric and thermomagnetic phenomena, are obtained by the Ritz method in terms of infinite determinants without requiring an explicit solution of the transport equations.