Integer quantum Hall effect of interacting electrons: dynamical scaling and critical conductivity

We report on a study of interaction effects on the polarization of a disordered two-dimensional electron system in a strong magnetic field. Treating the Coulomb interaction within the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation we find numerical evidence for dynamical scaling with a dynamical critical exponent z=1 at the integer quantum Hall plateau transition in the lowest Landau level. Within the numerical accuracy of our data the conductivity at the transition and the anomalous diffusion exponent are given by the values for non-interacting electrons, independent of the strength of the interaction.Comment: Minor changes. Final version to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett. June 2

Liouvillian Approach to the Integer Quantum Hall Effect Transition

We present a novel approach to the localization-delocalization transition in the integer quantum Hall effect. The Hamiltonian projected onto the lowest Landau level can be written in terms of the projected density operators alone. This and the closed set of commutation relations between the projected densities leads to simple equations for the time evolution of the density operators. These equations can be used to map the problem of calculating the disorder averaged and energetically unconstrained density-density correlation function to the problem of calculating the one-particle density of states of a dynamical system with a novel action. At the self-consistent mean-field level, this approach yields normal diffusion and a finite longitudinal conductivity. While we have not been able to go beyond the saddle point approximation analytically, we show numerically that the critical localization exponent can be extracted from the energetically integrated correlation function yielding $\nu=2.33 \pm 0.05$ in excellent agreement with previous finite-size scaling studies.Comment: 9 pages, submitted to PR

Scaling in the Integer Quantum Hall Effect: interactions and low magnetic fields

Recent developments in the scaling theory of the integer quantum Hall effect are discussed. In particular, the influence of electron-electron interactions on the critical behavior are studied. It is further argued that recent experiments on the disappearance of the quantum Hall effect at low magnetic fields support rather than disprove the scaling theory, when interpreted properly.Comment: 13 pages, invited talk at DPG spring meeting, Regensburg, March 2000, to appear in Advances in Solid State Physics, ed. B. Krame

Metal-insulator transitions in anisotropic 2d systems

Several phenomena related to the critical behaviour of non-interacting electrons in a disordered 2d tight-binding system with a magnetic field are studied. Localization lengths, critical exponents and density of states are computed using transfer matrix techniques. Scaling functions of isotropic systems are recovered once the dimension of the system in each direction is chosen proportional to the localization length. It is also found that the critical point is independent of the propagation direction, and that the critical exponents for the localization length for both propagating directions are equal to that of the isotropic system (approximately 7/3). We also calculate the critical value of the scaling function for both the isotropic and the anisotropic system. It is found that the isotropic value equals the geometric mean of the two anisotropic values. Detailed numerical studies of the density of states for the isotropic system reveals that for an appreciable amount of disorder the critical energy is off the band center.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX, 6 figures included, submitted to Physical Review

Fluctuating Hall resistance defeats the quantized Hall insulator

Using the Chalker-Coddington network model as a drastically simplified, but universal model of integer quantum Hall physics, we investigate the plateau-to-insulator transition at strong magnetic field by means of a real-space renormalization approach. Our results suggest that for a fully quantum coherent situation, the quantized Hall insulator with R_H approx. h/e^2 is observed up to R_L ~25 h/e^2 when studying the most probable value of the distribution function P(R_H). Upon further increasing R_L ->\infty the Hall insulator with diverging Hall resistance R_H \propto R_L^kappa is seen. The crossover between these two regimes depends on the precise nature of the averaging procedure.Comment: major revision, discussion of averaging improved; 8 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in EP

Precision of Quantization of the Hall Conductivity in a Sample of Finite Size: Power Law

A microscopic calculation of the conductivity in the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime is carried out. The problem of precision of quantization is analyzed for samples of finite size. It is demonstrated that the precision of quantization shows a power-law dependence on the sample size. A new scaling parameter describing a dependence of this kind is introduced. It is also demonstrated that the precision of quantization linearly depends on the ratio between the amplitude of the chaotic potential and the cyclotron energy. The results obtained are compared with the magnetotransport measurements in mesoscopic samples.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Quantum Hall effect at low magnetic fields

The temperature and scale dependence of resistivities in the standard scaling theory of the integer quantum Hall effect is discussed. It is shown that recent experiments, claiming to observe a discrepancy with the global phase diagram of the quantum Hall effect, are in fact in agreement with the standard theory. The apparent low-field transition observed in the experiments is identified as a crossover due to weak localization and a strong reduction of the conductivity when Landau quantization becomes dominant.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, minor corrections, to appear in PR

Charged particles in random magnetic fields and the critical behavior in the fractional quantum Hall effect

As a model for the transitions between plateaus in the fractional Quantum Hall effect we study the critical behavior of non-interacting charged particles in a static random magnetic field with finite mean value. We argue that this model belongs to the same universality class as the integer Quantum Hall effect. The universality is proved for the limiting cases of the lowest Landau level, and slowly fluctuating magnetic fields in arbitrary Landau levels. The conjecture that the universality holds in general is based on the study of the statistical properties of the corresponding random matrix model.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex 3.0, no figures, to appear in PR

Floating of Extended States and Localization Transition in a Weak Magnetic Field

We report results of a numerical study of non-interacting electrons moving in a random potential in two dimensions in the presence of a weak perpendicular magnetic field. We study the topological properties of the electronic eigenstates within a tight binding model. We find that in the weak magnetic field or strong randomness limit, extended states float up in energy. Further, the localization length is found to diverge at the insulator phase boundary with the same exponent $\nu$ as that of the isolated lowest Landau band (high magnetic field limit).Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 3 figures available upon reques

Universal scaling, beta function, and metal-insulator transitions

We demonstrate a universal scaling form of longitudinal resistance in the quantum critical region of metal-insulator transitions, based on numerical results of three-dimensional Anderson transitions (with and without magnetic field), two-dimensional quantum Hall plateau to insulator transition, as well as experimental data of the recently discovered two-dimensional metal-insulator transition. The associated reflection symmetry and a peculiar logarithmic form of the beta function exist over a wide range in which the resistance can change by more than one order of magnitude. Interesting implications for the two-dimensional metal-insulator transition are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, 4 embedded figures; minor corrections to figures and tex