Anderson Metal-insulator Transition Research Articles

Interaction Effects on the Dynamical Anderson Metal-Insulator Transition Using Kicked Quantum Gases.

Understanding the interplay of interaction and disorder in quantum transport poses long-standing scientific challenges for theory and experiment. While highly controlled ultracold atomic platforms combining atomic interactions with spatially disordered lattices have led to remarkable advances, the extension of such controlled studies to phenomena in high-dimensional disordered systems, such as the three-dimensional Anderson metal-insulator transition has been limited. Kicked quantum gases provide an alternate experimental platform that captures the Anderson model in momentum space and features dynamical localization as the analog of Anderson localization. Here, we utilize a momentum space lattice platform using quasiperiodically kicked ultracold atomic gases to experimentally investigate interaction effects on the three-dimensional dynamical Anderson metal-insulator transition. We observe interaction-driven subdiffusion and a divergence of delocalization onset time on approaching the phase boundary. Mean-field numerical simulations show qualitative agreement with experimental observations, but with significant quantitative deviations.

Metal-insulator transition in a two-dimensional system of chiral unitary class

We perform a numerical investigation of Anderson metal-insulator transition (MIT) in a two-dimensional system of chiral symmetry class AIII by combining finite-size scaling, transport, density of states, and multifractality studies. The results are in agreement with the $\ensuremath{\sigma}$-model renormalization-group theory where MIT is driven by proliferation of vortices. We determine the phase diagram and find an apparent nonuniversality of several parameters on the critical line of MIT, which is consistent with the analytically predicted slow renormalization towards the ultimate fixed point of the MIT. The localization-length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}$ is estimated as $\ensuremath{\nu}=1.55\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1$.

Conductance distribution across the Anderson transition in a random matrix model

A model based on random matrix theory (RMT) is used to obtain the full conductance distribution $P(g)$ in three dimensions (3D) across the Anderson metal-insulator transition, and compared with the corresponding quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) case where there is only a smooth crossover. We show that while the differences between the two are subtle, the details of the results from the RMT model agree very well with the existing numerical studies of the tight-binding Anderson model in 3D vs Q1D, including the critical region in 3D.

Half metals at intermediate energy scales in Anderson-type insulators

Although quantum phase transitions involved with Anderson localization had been investigated for more than a half century, the role of spin polarization in these metal-insulator transitions has not been clearly addressed as a function of both the range of interactions and energy scales. Based on the Anderson-Hartree-Fock study, we reveal that the spin polarization has nothing to do with Anderson metal-insulator transitions in three dimensions as far as effective interactions between electrons are long-ranged Coulomb type. On the other hand, we find that metal-insulator transitions appear with magnetism in the case of Hubbard-type local interactions. In particular, we show that the multifractal spectrum of spin $\uparrow$ electrons differs from that of spin $\downarrow$ at the high-energy mobility edge, which indicates the existence of spin-dependent universality classes for metal-insulator transitions. One of the most fascinating and rather unexpected results is the appearance of half metals at intermediate energy scales above the high-energy mobility edge in Anderson-type insulators of the Fermi energy, that is, only spin $\uparrow$ electrons are delocalized while spin $\downarrow$ electrons are Anderson-type localized.

Anderson localization effects on the doped Hubbard model

We derive the disorder vs. doping phase diagram of the doped Hubbard model via Dynamical Mean Field Theory combined with Typical Medium Theory, which allows the description of both Mott (correlation driven) and Anderson (disorder driven) metal-insulator transitions. We observe a transition from a metal to an Anderson-Mott insulator for increasing disorder strength at all interactions. In the weak correlation regime and rather small doping, the Anderson-Mott insulator displays properties which are alike to the ones found at half-filling. In particular, this phase is characterized by the presence of empty sites. If we further increase either the doping or the correlation however, an Anderson-Mott phase of different kind arises for sharply weaker disorder strength. This phase occupies the largest part of the phase diagram in the strong correlation regime, and is characterized by the absence of the empty sites.

Superconductivity at the three-dimensional Anderson metal-insulator transition

We study a disordered weakly coupled superconductor around the Anderson transition by solving numerically the Bogoliubov--de Gennes (BdG) equations in a three-dimensional lattice of size up to $20\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}20\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}20$ in the presence of a random potential. The spatial average of the order parameter is moderately enhanced as disorder approaches the transition but decreases sharply in the insulating region. The spatial distribution of the order parameter is sensitive to the disorder strength: for intermediate disorders below the transition, we already observe a highly asymmetric distribution with an exponential tail. Around the transition, it is well described by a log-normal distribution and a parabolic singularity spectrum. These features are typical of a multifractal measure. We determine quantitatively the critical disorder at which the insulator transition occurs by an analysis of level statistics in the spectral region that contributes to the formation of the order parameter. Interestingly, spectral correlations at the transition are similar to those found in noninteracting disordered systems at the Anderson transition. A percolation analysis suggests that the loss of phase coherence may occur around the critical disorder.

Disorder-Driven Multifractality Transition in Weyl Nodal Loops.

The effect of short-range disorder in nodal line semimetals is studied by numerically exact means. For arbitrary small disorder, a novel semimetallic phase is unveiled for which the momentum-space amplitude of the ground-state wave function is concentrated around the nodal line and follows a multifractal distribution. At a critical disorder strength, a semimetal to compressible metal transition occurs, coinciding with a multi- to single-fractality transition. The universality class of this critical point is characterized by the correlation length and dynamical exponents. At considerably higher disorder, an Anderson metal-insulator transition takes place. Our results show that the nature of the semimetallic phase in nonclean samples is fundamentally different from a clean nodal semimetal.

Drawing Phase Diagrams of Random Quantum Systems by Deep Learning the Wave Functions

Applications of neural networks to condensed matter physics are becoming popular and beginning to be well accepted. Obtaining and representing the ground and excited state wave functions are examples of such applications. Another application is analyzing the wave functions and determining their quantum phases. Here, we review the recent progress of using the multilayer convolutional neural network, so-called deep learning, to determine the quantum phases in random electron systems. After training the neural network by the supervised learning of wave functions in restricted parameter regions in known phases, the neural networks can determine the phases of the wave functions in wide parameter regions in unknown phases; hence, the phase diagrams are obtained. We demonstrate the validity and generality of this method by drawing the phase diagrams of two- and higher dimensional Anderson metal-insulator transitions and quantum percolations as well as disordered topological systems such as three-dimensional topological insulators and Weyl semimetals. Both real-space and Fourier space wave functions are analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages over conventional methods are discussed.

Critical behavior of Anderson transitions in three-dimensional orthogonal classes with particle-hole symmetries

From transfer-matrix calculation of localization lengths and their finite-size scaling analyses, we evaluate critical exponents of the Anderson metal-insulator transition in three dimensional (3D) orthogonal class with particle-hole symmetry, class CI, as $\nu=1.16\pm 0.02$. We further study disorder-driven quantum phase transitions in the 3D nodal line Dirac semimetal model, which belongs to class BDI, and estimate critical exponent as $\nu=0.80\pm 0.02$. From a comparison of the critical exponents, we conclude that a disorder-driven re-entrant insulator-metal transition from the topological insulator phase in the class BDI to the diffusive metal phase belongs to the same universality class as the Anderson transition in the 3D class BDI. We also argue that an infinitesimally small disorder drives the nodal line Dirac semimetal in the clean limit to the diffusive metal.

Multifractality of ab initio wave functions in doped semiconductors

In Refs. [1,2] we have shown how a combination of modern linear-scaling DFT, together with a subsequent use of large, effective tight-binding Hamiltonians, allows to compute multifractal wave functions yielding the critical properties of the Anderson metal-insulator transition (MIT) in doped semiconductors. This combination allowed us to construct large and atomistically realistic samples of sulfur-doped silicon (Si:S). The critical properties of such systems and the existence of the MIT are well known, but experimentally determined values of the critical exponent ν close to the transition have remained different from those obtained by the standard tight-binding Anderson model. In Ref. [1], we found that this “exponent puzzle” can be resolved when using our novel ab initio approach based on scaling of multifractal exponents in the realistic impurity band for Si:S. Here, after a short review of multifractality, we give details of the multifractal analysis as used in [1] and show the obtained critical multifractal spectrum at the MIT for Si:S.

Resolution of the exponent puzzle for the Anderson transition in doped semiconductors

The Anderson metal-insulator transition (MIT) is central to our understanding of the quantum mechanical nature of disordered materials. Despite extensive efforts by theory and experiment, there is still no agreement on the value of the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}$ describing the universality of the transition---the so-called ``exponent puzzle.'' In this Rapid Communication, going beyond the standard Anderson model, we employ ab initio methods to study the MIT in a realistic model of a doped semiconductor. We use linear-scaling density functional theory to simulate prototypes of sulfur-doped silicon (Si:S). From these we build larger tight-binding models close to the critical concentration of the MIT. When the dopant concentration is increased, an impurity band forms and eventually delocalizes. We characterize the MIT via multifractal finite-size scaling, obtaining the phase diagram and estimates of $\ensuremath{\nu}$. Our results suggest an explanation of the long-standing exponent puzzle, which we link to the hybridization of conduction and impurity bands.

Boltzmann transport theory for many-body localization

We investigate a many-body localization transition based on a Boltzmann transport theory. Introducing weak localization corrections into a Boltzmann equation, Hershfield and Ambegaokar re-derived the Wolfle-Vollhardt self-consistent equation for the diffusion coefficient [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 34}, 2147 (1986)]. We generalize this Boltzmann equation framework, introducing electron-electron interactions into the Hershfield-Ambegaokar Boltzmann transport theory based on the study of Zala-Narozhny-Aleiner [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 64}, 214204 (2001)]. Here, not only Altshuler-Aronov corrections but also dephasing effects are taken into account. As a result, we obtain a self-consistent equation for the diffusion coefficient in terms of the disorder strength and temperature, which extends the Wolfle-Vollhardt self-consistent equation in the presence of electron correlations. Solving our self-consistent equation numerically, we find a many-body localization insulator-metal transition, where a metallic phase appears from dephasing effects dominantly instead of renormalization effects at high temperatures. Although this mechanism is consistent with that of recent seminal papers [Ann. Phys. (N. Y). {\bf 321}, 1126 (2006); Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 206603 (2005)], we find that our three-dimensional metal-insulator transition belongs to the first order transition, which differs from the Anderson metal-insulator transition described by the Wolfle-Vollhardt self-consistent theory. We speculate that a bimodal distribution function for the diffusion coefficient is responsible for this first order phase transition.

Hartree-Fock study of the Anderson metal-insulator transition in the presence of Coulomb interaction: Two types of mobility edges and their multifractal scaling exponents

We investigate the role of Coulomb interaction in the multifractality of Anderson metal-insulator transition, where the Coulomb interaction is treated within the Hartree-Fock approximation, but disorder effects are taken into account exactly. An innovative technical aspect in our simulation is to utilize the Ewald-sum technique, which allows us to introduce the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction into Hartree-Fock self-consistent equations of order parameters more accurately. This numerical simulation reproduces the Altshuler-Aronov correction in a metallic state and the Efros-Shklovskii pseudogap in an insulating phase, where the density of states $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\omega})$ is evaluated in three dimensions. Approaching the quantum critical point of a metal-insulator transition from either the metallic or insulting phase, we find that the density of states is given by $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\omega})\ensuremath{\sim}{|\ensuremath{\omega}|}^{1/2}$, which determines one critical exponent of the McMillan-Shklovskii scaling theory. Our main result is to evaluate the eigenfunction multifractal scaling exponent ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{q}$, given by the Legendre transformation of the fractal dimension ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{q}$, which characterizes the scaling behavior of the inverse participation ratio with respect to the system size $L$. Our multifractal analysis leads us to identify two kinds of mobility edges, one of which occurs near the Fermi energy and the other of which appears at a high energy, where the density of states at the Fermi energy shows the Coulomb-gap feature. We observe that the multifractal exponent at the high-energy mobility edge remains to be almost identical to that of the Anderson localization transition in the absence of Coulomb interactions. On the other hand, we find that the multifractal exponent near the Fermi energy is more enhanced than that at the high-energy mobility edge, suspected to result from interaction effects. However, both the multifractal exponents do not change even if the strength of the Coulomb interaction varies. We also show that the multifractality singular spectrum can be classified into two categories, confirming the appearance of two types of mobility edges.

Quantum critical magnetotransport at a continuous metal-insulator transition

In contrast to the seminal weak localization prediction of a non-critical Hall constant ($R_{H}$) at the Anderson metal-insulator transition (MIT), $R_{H}$ in quite a few real disordered systems exhibits both, a strong $T$-dependence and critical scaling near their MIT. Here, we investigate these issues in detail within a non-perturbative "strong localization" regime using cluster-dynamical mean field theory (CDMFT). We uncover $(i)$ clear and unconventional quantum-critical scaling of the $\gamma$-function, finding that $\gamma(g_{xy})\simeq$ log$(g_{xy})$ over a wide range spanning the continuous MIT, very similar to that seen for the longitudinal conductivity, $(ii)$ strongly $T$-dependent and clear quantum critical scaling in both transverse conductivity and $R_{H}$ at the MIT. We find that these surprising results are in comprehensive and very good accord with signatures of a novel kind of localization in disordered NbN near the MIT, providing substantial support for our "strong" localization view.

Anderson metal–insulator transition in doped polar cuprates

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of the Anderson transition for polarons, different dopants, and impurities in doped cuprates. We have developed the continuum theory of carrier self-trapping in a deformable lattice and near different dopants (impurities), the appropriate variational methods and tight-binding model for studying the formation of the localized hole states and the narrow energy bands of large polarons and dopants (impurities) in hole-doped cuprates $$\mathrm{La}_{2-x}\mathrm{Sr}_{x}\mathrm{CuO}_{4}$$ (LSCO) and $$\mathrm{YBa}_{2}\mathrm{Cu}_{3}\mathrm{O}_{7-\delta }$$ (YBCO). To develop the quantitative theory of the Anderson localization and derive the adequate quantitative criteria for the Anderson metal–insulator transition (MIT) in doped materials, we have studied localized states of non-interacting hole carriers in crystalline solids and metal–insulator transitions (MITs) caused by disorder in distribution of large polarons, dopants (or impurities). It is suggested that the large polarons, dopants, and impurities from different superlattices with different degrees of disorder. We have considered a crystalline array of potential wells with the depth $$U = U_{0}$$ in the absence of disorder and developed the approximate methods for the quantitative estimation of the possible changes (or fluctuations) of the depth U of these potential wells between the limits $$U_{0}-V_{0}/2<U<U_{0}+V_{0}/2$$ in the presence of disorder, where $$V_{0}$$ is a random potential which is determined as the amplitude of the change of U due to random distribution of large polarons and dopants (impurities). Using the uncertainty principle, we have obtained the new and more adequate criteria for the Anderson transition in doped polar materials and analyzed the applicability of these criteria to the hole-doped cuprates both in the absence and in the presence of polaronic effects. We have shown that our theoretical results on Anderson MIT obtained by taking into account polaronic effects are in quantitative agreement with the well-established experimental results on MITs in hole-doped cuprates LSCO and YBCO.

Pseudosymmetric random matrices: Semi-Poisson and sub-Wigner statistics

Real nonsymmetric matrices may have either real or complex conjugate eigenvalues. These matrices can be seen to be pseudosymmetric as ηMη^{-1}=M^{t}, where the metric η could be secular (a constant matrix) or depending upon the matrix elements of M. Here we construct ensembles of a large number N of pseudosymmetric n×n (n large) matrices using N[n(n+1)/2≤N≤n^{2}] independent and identically distributed random numbers as their elements. Based on our numerical calculations, we conjecture that for these ensembles the nearest level spacing distributions [NLSDs, p(s)] are sub-Wigner as p_{abc}(s)=ase^{-bs^{c}}(0<c<2) and the distributions of their eigenvalues fit well to D(ε)=A[tanh{(ε+B)/C}-tanh{(ε-B)/C}] (exceptions also discussed). These sub-Wigner NLSDs are encountered in Anderson metal-insulator transition and topological transitions in a Josephson junction. Interestingly, p(s) for c=1 is called semi-Poisson, and we show that it lies close to the form p(s)=0.59sK_{0}(0.45s^{2}) derived for the case of 2×2 pseudosymmetric matrix where the eigenvalues are most aptly conditionally real, E_{1,2}=a±sqrt[b^{2}-c^{2}], which represent characteristic coalescing of eigenvalues in parity-time (PT) -symmetric systems.

Coherent forward scattering as a signature of Anderson metal-insulator transitions

We show that the coherent forward scattering (CFS) interference peak amplitude sharply jumps from zero to a finite value upon crossing a metal-insulator transition. Extensive numerical simulations reveal that the CFS peak contrast obeys the one-parameter scaling hypothesis and gives access to the critical exponents of the transition. We also discover that the critical CFS peak directly controls the spectral compressibility at the transition where eigenfunctions are multifractal, and we demonstrate the universality of this property with respect to various types of disorder.

Exponential Orthogonality Catastrophe at the Anderson Metal-Insulator Transition.

We consider the orthogonality catastrophe at the Anderson metal-insulator transition (AMIT). The typical overlap F between the ground state of a Fermi liquid and the one of the same system with an added potential impurity is found to decay at the AMIT exponentially with system size L as F∼exp(-cL^{η}), where η is the power of multifractal intensity correlations. Thus, strong disorder typically increases the sensitivity of a system to an added impurity exponentially. We recover, on the metallic side of the transition, Anderson's result that the fidelity F decays with a power law F∼L^{-q(E_{F})} with system size L. Its power increases as the Fermi energy E_{F} approaches the mobility edge E_{M} as q(E_{F})∼[(E_{F}-E_{M})/E_{M}]^{-νη}, where ν is the critical exponent of the correlation length ξ_{c}. On the insulating side of the transition, F is constant for system sizes exceeding the localization length ξ. While these results are obtained for the typical fidelity F, we find that logF is widely, log normally, distributed with a width diverging at the AMIT. As a consequence, the mean value of the fidelity F converges to one at the AMIT, in strong contrast to its typical value which converges to zero exponentially fast with system size L. This counterintuitive behavior is explained as a manifestation of multifractality at the AMIT.

High-Dimensional Disorder-Driven Phenomena in Weyl Semimetals, Semiconductors, and Related Systems

It is commonly believed that a noninteracting disordered electronic system can undergo only the Anderson metal-insulator transition. It has been suggested, however, that a broad class of systems can display disorder-driven transitions distinct from Anderson localization that have manifestations in the disorder-averaged density of states, conductivity, and other observables. Such transitions have received particular attention in the context of recently discovered 3D Weyl and Dirac materials but have also been predicted in cold-atom systems with long-range interactions, quantum kicked rotors, and all sufficiently high-dimensional systems. Moreover, such systems exhibit unconventional behavior of Lifshitz tails, energy-level statistics, and ballistic-transport properties. Here, we review recent progress and the status of results on non-Anderson disorder-driven transitions and related phenomena.

Anderson metal-insulator transitions with classical magnetic impurities

We study numerically the effects of classical magnetic impurities on the Anderson metal-insulator transition. We find that a small concentration of Heisenberg impurities enhances the critical disorder amplitude ${W}_{\mathrm{c}}$ with increasing exchange coupling strength $J$. The resulting scaling with $J$ is analyzed which supports an anomalous scaling prediction by Wegner due to the combined breaking of time-reversal and spin-rotational symmetry. Moreover, we find that the presence of magnetic impurities lowers the critical correlation length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}$ and enhances the multifractality parameter ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{0}$. The new value of $\ensuremath{\nu}$ improves the agreement with the value measured in experiments on the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in doped semiconductors like phosphor-doped silicon, where a finite density of magnetic moments is known to exist in the vicinity of the MIT. The results are obtained by a finite-size scaling analysis of the geometric mean of the local density of states which is calculated by means of the kernel polynomial method. We establish this combination of numerical techniques as a method to obtain critical properties of disordered systems quantitatively.