Finite-temperature properties of a gauge theory of nonrelativistic fermions.

We study the finite temperature properties of the gauge theory of nonrelativistic fermions introduced by Halperin, Lee, and Read. This gauge theory is relevant to two interesting systems: high-Tc superconductors in the anomalous metallic phase and a two-dimensional electron system in a strong magnetic field at the Landau filling factor ν = 1/2. We calculate the self-energies of both gauge bosons and fermions by the random-phase approximation, showing that the dominant term at low energies is generated by the gauge-fermion interaction. The current-current correlation function is also calculated by the ladder approximation. We confirm that the electric conductivity satisfies the Drude formula and obtain its temperature dependence, which is of a non-Fermi-liquid. e-mail address: [email protected] e-mail address: [email protected]