J. Phys. IV France 114 (2004) 165
DOI: 10.1051/jp4:2004114040

The Mott transition: Unconventional transport, spectral weight transfers, and critical behaviour

A. Georges¹, S. Florens² and T.A. Costi<sup>2

1</sup>  LPT - École Normale Supérieure 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France and CPHT - École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
    e-mail: antoine.georges@cpht.polytechnique.fr
²  Institut für Theorie der Kondensierten Materie, Universität Karlsruhe, Postfach 6980, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
    e-mail: florens@tkm.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de (S. Florens); tac@tkm.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de (T. Costi)

Abstract
Strongly correlated metals close to the Mott transition display unusual transport regimes, together with large spectral weight transfers in optics and photoemission. We briefly review the theoretical understanding of these effects, based on the dynamical mean-field theory, and emphasize the key role played by the two energy scales associated with quasiparticle coherence scale and with the Mott gap. Recent experimental results on two-dimensional organic compounds and transition metal oxides are considered in this perspective. The liquid-gas critical behaviour at the Mott critical endpoint is also discussed. Key words. Mott transition - Organic conductors - Vanadium oxide - Bad metals - Dynamical Mean-Field Theory - Liquid-gas transition.

© EDP Sciences 2004