Energy-scale competition in the Hall resistivity of a strange metal

Abstract: Anomalous transport behavior -- both longitudinal and Hall -- is the defining characteristic of the strange-metal state of High-Tc cuprates. The temperature, frequency, and magnetic field dependence of the resistivity is understood within strange metal phenomenology as resulting from energy-scale competition to set the inelastic relaxation rate. The anomalously strong temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient, however, is at odds with this phenomenology. Here we report measurements of the Hall resistivity in the strange metal state of cuprates over a broad range of magnetic fields and temperatures. The observed field and temperature dependent Hall resistivity at very high magnetic fields reveals a distinct high-field regime which is controlled by energy-scale competition. This extends the strange metal phenomenology in the cuprates to include the Hall resistivity and suggests, in particular, that the direct effect of magnetic field on the relaxation dynamics of quantum fluctuations may be at least partially responsible for the anomalous Hall resistivity of the strange metal state.