Delocalization Transition Research Articles

Delocalization Transition of a Disordered Axion Insulator.

The axion insulator is a higher-order topological insulator protected by inversion symmetry. We show that, under quenched disorder respecting inversion symmetry on average, the topology of the axion insulator stays robust, and an intermediate metallic phase in which states are delocalized is unavoidable at the transition from an axion insulator to a trivial insulator. We derive this conclusion from general arguments, from classical percolation theory, and from the numerical study of a 3D quantum network model simulating a disordered axion insulator through a layer construction. We find the localization length critical exponent near the delocalization transition to be ν=1.42±0.12. We further show that this delocalization transition is stable even to weak breaking of the average inversion symmetry, up to a critical strength. We also quantitatively map our quantum network model to an effective Hamiltonian and we find its low-energy k·p expansion.

Tail states and unusual localization transition in low-dimensional Anderson model with power-law hopping

We study deterministic power-law quantum hopping model with an amplitude J(r)∝−r−β and local Gaussian disorder in low dimensions d=1,2 under the condition d<β<3d/2. We demonstrate unusual combination of exponentially decreasing density of the ”tail states” and localization–delocalization transition (as function of disorder strength W) pertinent to a small (vanishing in thermodynamic limit) fraction of eigenstates. In a broad range of parameters density of states ν(E) decays into the tail region E<0 as simple exponential, ν(E)=ν0eE/E0, while characteristic energy E0 varies smoothly across edge localization transition. We develop simple analytic theory which describes E0 dependence on power-law exponent β, dimensionality d and W, and compare its predictions with exact diagonalization results. At low energies within the bare ”conduction band”, all eigenstates are localized due to strong quantum interference at d=1,2; however localization length grows fast with energy decrease, contrary to the case of usual Schrodinger equation with local disorder.

Quench dynamics of quasi-periodic systems exhibiting Rabi oscillations of two-level integrals of motion

The elusive nature of localized integrals of motion (or l-bits) in disordered quantum systems lies at the core of some of their most prominent features, i.e. emergent integrability and lack of thermalization. Here, we study the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional model of spinless interacting fermions in a quasi-periodic potential with a localization–delocalization transition. Starting from an unentangled initial state, we show that in the strong disorder regime an important subset of the l-bits can be explicitly identified with strongly localized two-level systems, associated with particles confined on two lattice sites. The existence of such subsystems forming an ensemble of nearly free l-bits is found to dominate the short-time dynamics of experimentally relevant quantities, such as the Loschmidt echo and the particle imbalance. We investigate the importance of the choice of the initial state by developing a second quench protocol, starting from the ground-state of the model at different initial disorder strengths and monitoring the quench dynamics close to the delicate ETH-MBL transition regime.

Drift-diffusion on a Cayley tree with stochastic resetting: the localization–delocalization transition

In this paper we develop the theory of drift-diffusion on a semi-infinite Cayley tree with stochastic resetting. In the case of a homogeneous tree with a closed terminal node and no resetting, it is known that the system undergoes a classical localization–delocalization (LD) transition at a critical mean velocity v c = −(D/L)ln(z − 1) where D is the diffusivity, L is the branch length and z is the coordination number of the tree. If v < v c then the steady state concentration at the terminal node is non-zero (drift-dominated localized state), whereas it is zero when v > v c (diffusion-dominated delocalized state). Here we show how the LD transition provides a basic framework for understanding analogous phase transitions in optimal resetting rates. First, we establish the existence of an optimal resetting rate r ∗∗(z) that maximizes the steady-state solution at a closed terminal node with respect to r. In addition, we show that there is a phase transition at a critical velocity such that r ∗∗ > 0 for and r ∗∗ = 0 for . We then identify a critical velocity for a phase transition in a second optimal resetting rate r* that minimizes the mean first passage time to be absorbed by an open terminal node. Previous results for the semi-infinite line are recovered on setting z = 2. The critical velocity of the LD transition provides an upper bound for the other critical velocities such that for all finite z. Only v c(z) has a simple universal dependence on the coordination number z. We end by considering the combined effects of quenched disorder and stochastic resetting.

Evading Anderson localization in a one-dimensional conductor with correlated disorder

We show that a one dimensional disordered conductor with correlated disorder has an extended state and a Landauer resistance that is non-zero in the limit of infinite system size in contrast to the predictions of the scaling theory of Anderson localization. The delocalization transition is not related to any underlying symmetry of the model such as particle-hole symmetry. For a wire of finite length the effect manifests as a sharp transmission resonance that narrows as the length of the wire is increased. Experimental realizations and applications are discussed including the possibility of constructing a narrow band light filter.

Non-Hermitian Kitaev chain with complex periodic and quasiperiodic potentials* *Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFA0300600 and 2016YFA0302104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12074410, 12047502, 11934015, 11947301, and 11774397), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB33000000), and the fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

We study the topological properties of the one-dimensional non-Hermitian Kitaev model with complex either periodic or quasiperiodic potentials. We obtain the energy spectrum and the phase diagrams of the system by using the transfer matrix method as well as the topological invariant. The phase transition points are given analytically. The Majorana zero modes in the topological nontrivial regimes are obtained. Focusing on the quasiperiodic potential, we obtain the phase transition from the topological superconducting phase to the Anderson localization, which is accompanied with the Anderson localization–delocalization transition in this non-Hermitian system. We also find that the topological regime can be reduced by increasing the non-Hermiticity.

Tilted elastic lines with columnar and point disorder, non-Hermitian quantum mechanics, and spiked random matrices: Pinning and localization

We revisit the problem of an elastic line (such as a vortex line in a superconductor) subject to both columnar disorder and point disorder in dimension d=1+1. Upon applying a transverse field, a delocalization transition is expected, beyond which the line is tilted macroscopically. We investigate this transition in the fixed tilt angle ensemble and within a "one-way" model where backward jumps are neglected. From recent results about directed polymers in the mathematics literature, and their connections to random matrix theory, we find that for a single line and a single strong defect this transition in the presence of point disorder coincides with the Baik-Ben Arous-Péché (BBP) transition for the appearance of outliers in the spectrum of a perturbed random matrix in the Gaussian unitary ensemble. This transition is conveniently described in the polymer picture by a variational calculation. In the delocalized phase, the ground state energy exhibits Tracy-Widom fluctuations. In the localized phase we show, using the variational calculation, that the fluctuations of the occupation length along the columnar defect are described by f_{KPZ}, a distribution which appears ubiquitously in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. We then consider a smooth density of columnar defect energies. Depending on how this density vanishes at its lower edge we find either (i) a delocalized phase only or (ii) a localized phase with a delocalization transition. We analyze this transition which is an infinite-rank extension of the BBP transition. The fluctuations of the ground state energy of a single elastic line in the localized phase (for fixed columnar defect energies) are described by a Fredholm determinant based on a new kernel, closely related to the kernel describing the largest real eigenvalues of the real Ginibre ensemble. The case of many columns and many nonintersecting lines, relevant for the study of the Bose glass phase, is also analyzed. The ground state energy is obtained using free probability and the Burgers equation. Connections with recent results on the generalized Rosenzweig-Porter model suggest that the localization of many polymers occurs gradually upon increasing their lengths.

π-Electron delocalization and electronic transitions in oligomeric and polymeric phthalocyanine zinc(II) complexes. Part 2. Non-linear oligo- and two-dimensional polyphthalocyanines

Based on the results in Part 1 about linear oligo- and one-dimensional polyphthalocyanines, the calculations were extended to fully annulated (fused) non-linear zinc(II) oligo- and two-dimensional polyphthalocyanines in order to obtain information about optical spectra and [Formula: see text]-electron delocalization in these annulated systems. Similar non-linear annulated oligomeric benzenoid aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be considered as analogues of non-linear oligoPcs, and the electronic structures can be compared. By calculations of 1H-NMR spectra and NICS, superaromaticity is predicted for a dication of the regular quadrilateral tetraphthalocyanine. According to DFT band gap calculations, two-dimensional zinc(II) polyphthalocyanine is predicted to be a narrow-gap semiconductor.

The density of states of 1D random band matrices via a supersymmetric transfer operator

Recently,M. and T. Shcherbina proved a pointwise semicircle law for the density of states of one-dimensional Gaussian band matrices of large bandwidth. The main step of their proof is a new method to study the spectral properties of non-self-adjoint operators in the semiclassical regime. The method is applied to a transfer operator constructed from the supersymmetric integral representation for the density of states. We present a simpler proof of a slightly upgraded version of the semicircle law, which requires only standard semiclassical arguments and some peculiar elementary computations. The simplification is due to the use of supersymmetry, which manifests itself in the commutation between the transfer operator and a family of transformations of superspace, and was applied earlier in the context of band matrices by Constantinescu. Other versions of this supersymmetry have been a crucial ingredient in the study of the localization–delocalization transition by theoretical physicists.

Speedup of the quantum adiabatic algorithm using delocalization catalysis

We propose a method to speed up the quantum adiabatic algorithm using catalysis by many-body delocalization. This is applied to random-field antiferromagnetic Ising spin models. The algorithm is catalyzed in such a way that the evolution approximates a Heisenberg model in the middle of its course, and the model is in a delocalized phase. We show numerically that we can speed up the standard algorithm for finding the ground state of the random-field Ising model using this idea. We also demonstrate that the speedup is due to gap amplification, even though the underlying model is not frustration-free. The crossover to speedup occurs at roughly the value of the interaction which is known to be the critical one for the delocalization transition. We also calculate the participation ratio and entanglement entropy as a function of time: their time dependencies indicate that the system is exploring more states and that they are more entangled than when there is no catalyst. Together, all these pieces of evidence demonstrate that the speedup is related to delocalization. Even though only relatively small systems can be investigated, the evidence suggests that the scaling of the method with system size is favorable. Our method is illustrated by experimental results from a small online IBM quantum computer, showing how to verify the method in future as such machines improve. The cost of the catalytic method compared to the standard algorithm is only a constant factor.

Two-body metal-insulator transitions in the Anderson-Hubbard model

We review our recent results on Anderson localization in systems of two interacting particles coupled by contact interactions. Based on an exact mapping to an effective single-particle problem, we numerically investigate the occurrence of metal-insulator phase transitions for the pair in two-(2D) and three-dimensional (3D) disordered lattices. In two dimensions, we find that interactions cause an exponential enhancement of the pair localization length with respect to its single-particle counterpart, but do not induce a delocalization transition. In particular we show that previous claims of 2D interaction-induced Anderson transitions are the results of strong finite-size effects. In three dimensions we find that the pair undergoes a metal-insulator transition belonging to the same (orthogonal) universality class of the noninteracting model. We then explore the phase diagram in the space of energy E, disorder W and interaction strength U, which reveals a rich and counterintuitive structure, endowed with multiple metallic and insulating phases. We point out that this phenomenon originates from the molecular and scattering-like nature of the pair states available at given energy and disorder strength.

Effect of short-ranged spatial correlations on the Anderson localization of phonons in mass-disordered systems

We investigate the effect of spatially correlated disorder on the Anderson transition of phonons in three dimensions using a Green’s function-based approach, namely, the typical medium dynamical cluster approximation, in mass-disordered systems. We numerically demonstrate that correlated disorder with pairwise correlations mitigates the localization of the vibrational modes. A correlation-driven localization–delocalization transition can emerge in a three-dimensional disordered system with an increase in the strength of correlations.

Absence of two-body delocalization transitions in the two-dimensional Anderson-Hubbard model

We investigate Anderson localization of two particles moving in a two-dimensional (2D) disordered lattice and coupled by contact interactions. Based on transmission-amplitude calculations for relatively large strip-shaped grids, we find that all pair states are localized in lattices of infinite size. In particular, we show that previous claims of an interaction-induced mobility edge are biased by severe finite-size effects. The localization length of a pair with zero total energy exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the interaction strength, characterized by an exponential enhancement in the weakly interacting regime. Our findings also suggest that the many-body mobility edge of the 2D Anderson-Hubbard model disappears in the zero-density limit, irrespective of the (bosonic or fermionic) quantum statistics of the particles.

Localization to delocalization transition in a double stranded helical geometry: effects of conformation, transverse electric field and dynamics

Conformational effect on electronic localization is critically investigated for the first time considering a double-stranded helical geometry (DSHG) subjected to an electric field. In the presence of electric field the DSHG behaves like a correlated disordered system whose site potentials are modulated in a cosine form like the well known Aubry–André–Harper model. The potential distribution can be modulated further by changing the orientation of the incident field. A similar kind of cosine modulation is also introduced in the inter-strand hopping integrals of the DSHG. Suitably adjusting the orientation of the electric field, we can achieve fully extended energy eigenstates or completely localized ones or a mixture of both. The effects of short-range and long-range hopping integrals along with the chirality on localization are thoroughly studied. Finally, we inspect the role of helical dynamics to make the model more realistic. The interplay between the helical geometry and electric field may open up several notable features of electronic localization and can be verified by using different chiral molecules.

Self-duality triggered dynamical transition

A basic result about the dynamics of spinless quantum systems is that the Maryland model exhibits dynamical localization in any dimension. Here we implement mathematical spectral theory and numerical experiments to show that this result does not hold, when the 2-dimensional Maryland model is endowed with spin 1/2 -- hereafter dubbed spin-Maryland (SM) model. Instead, in a family of SM models, tuning the (effective) Planck constant drives dynamical localization{delocalization transitions of topological nature. These transitions are triggered by the self-duality, a symmetry generated by some transformation in the parameter -- the inverse Planck constant -- space. This provides significant insights to new dynamical phenomena such as what occur in the spinful quantum kicked rotor.

Collective Modes at a Disordered Quantum Phase Transition.

We study the collective excitations, i.e., the Goldstone (phase) mode and the Higgs (amplitude) mode, near the superfluid-Mott glass quantum phase transition in a two-dimensional system of disordered bosons. Using MonteCarlo simulations as well as an inhomogeneous quantum mean-field theory with Gaussian fluctuations, we show that the Higgs mode is strongly localized for all energies, leading to a noncritical scalar response. In contrast, the lowest-energy Goldstone mode undergoes a striking delocalization transition as the system enters the superfluid phase. We discuss the generality of these findings and experimental consequences, and we point out potential relations to many-body localization.

Quantum stochastic transport along chains

The spreading of a particle along a chain, and its relaxation, are central themes in statistical and quantum mechanics. One wonders what are the consequences of the interplay between coherent and stochastic transitions. This fundamental puzzle has not been addressed in the literature, though closely related themes were in the focus of the Physics literature throughout the last century, highlighting quantum versions of Brownian motion. Most recently this question has surfaced again in the context of photo-synthesis. Here we consider both an infinite tight-binding chain and a finite ring within the framework of an Ohmic master equation. With added disorder it becomes the quantum version of the Sinai-Derrida-Hatano-Nelson model, which features sliding and delocalization transitions. We highlight non-monotonic dependence of the current on the bias, and a counter-intuitive enhancement of the effective disorder due to coherent hopping.

Emergence of criticality through a cascade of delocalization transitions in quasiperiodic chains

Conduction through materials crucially depends on how ordered they are. Periodically ordered systems exhibit extended Bloch waves that generate metallic bands, whereas disorder is known to limit conduction and localize the motion of particles in a medium. In this context, quasiperiodic systems, which are neither periodic nor disordered, reveal exotic conduction properties, self-similar wavefunctions, and critical phenomena. Here, we explore the localization properties of waves in a novel family of quasiperiodic chains obtained when continuously interpolating between two paradigmatic limits: the Aubry-Andr\'e model, famous for its metal-to-insulator transition, and the Fibonacci chain, known for its critical nature. Using both theoretical analysis and experiments on cavity-polariton devices, we discover that the Aubry-Andr\'e model evolves into criticality through a cascade of band-selective localization/delocalization transitions that iteratively shape the self-similar critical wavefunctions of the Fibonacci chain. Our findings offer (i) a unique new insight into understanding the criticality of quasiperiodic chains, (ii) a controllable knob by which to engineer band-selective pass filters, and (iii) a versatile experimental platform with which to further study the interplay of many-body interactions and dissipation in a wide range of quasiperiodic models.

Localization properties of a two-channel 3D Anderson model

We study two coupled 3D lattices, one of them featuring uncorrelated on-site disorder and the other one being fully ordered, and analyze how the interlattice hopping affects the localization–delocalization transition of the former and how the latter responds to it. We find that moderate hopping pushes down the critical disorder strength for the disordered channel throughout the entire spectrum compared to the usual phase diagram for the 3D Anderson model. In that case, the ordered channel begins to feature an effective disorder also leading to the emergence of mobility edges but with higher associated critical disorder values. Both channels become pretty much alike as their hopping strength is further increased, as expected. We also consider the case of two disordered components and show that in the presence of certain correlations among the parameters of both lattices, one obtains a disorder-free channel decoupled from the rest of the system.

Engineering indefinitely long-lived localization in cavity-QED arrays

By exploiting the nonlinear nature of the Jaynes Cumming's interaction, one can get photon population trapping in cavity-QED arrays. However, the unavoidable dissipative effects in a realistic system would destroy the self-trapped state by continuous photon leakage. To circumvent this issue, we show that a careful engineering of drive, dissipation and Hamiltonian results in achieving indefinitely sustained self-trapping. We show that the intricate interplay between drive, dissipation, and light-matter interaction results in requiring an optimal window of drive strengths in order to achieve such non-trivial steady states. We treat the two-cavity and four-cavity cases using exact open quantum many-body calculations. Additionally, in the semiclassical limit we scale up the system to a long 1-D chain and demonstrate localization de-localization transition in a driven-dissipative system. Although, our analysis is performed keeping cavity-QED systems in mind, our work is applicable to other driven-dissipative systems where nonlinearity plays a defining role.