Probing band-center anomaly with the Kernel polynomial method

Abstract

We investigate the anomalous behavior of localization length of a non-interacting one-dimensional Anderson model at zero temperature. We report numerical calculations of the Thouless expression of localization length, based on the Kernel polynomial method (KPM), which has an computational complexity, where N is the system size. The KPM results show excellent agreement with perturbative results in a large system size limit, confirming the validity of the Thouless formula. In the perturbative regime, we show that the KPM approximation of the Thouless expression produces the correct localization length at the band center in the thermodynamic limit. The Thouless expression relates localization length in terms of density of states in a one-dimensional disordered system. By calculating the KPM estimates of the density of states, we find a cusp-like behavior around the band center in the perturbative regime. This cusp-like singularity can not be obtained by approximate analytical calculations within the second-order approximations, reflects the band-center anomaly.