Can Hubbard model resist electric current?

Abstract

It is claimed by a recent quantum Monte Carlo simulation that the linear-in-temperature DC resistivity observed in the high-$T_{c}$ cuprate superconductors can be reproduced in the pure two dimensional Hubbard model\cite{Huang}. Here we show perturbatively that such a translational invariant electronic model can not support a steady state current in the presence of a uniform electric field at any finite temperature. Instead, the Hubbard model is perfectly conducting in the linear response regime and will undergo Bloch oscillation at finite electric field for any finite temperature. Nevertheless, the quantum Monte Carlo simulation can provide us the key information on the temperature dependence of the Drude weight, a quantity of central importance in the holographic description of the transport properties of the strange metal phase.