Transport Properties and Density of States of Quantum Wires with Off-diagonal Disorder

We review recent work on the random hopping problem in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry of N coupled chains (quantum wire with off-diagonal disorder). Both density of states and conductance show a remarkable dependence on the parity of N. The theory is compared to numerical simulations.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Physica E (special issue on Dynamics of Complex Systems); 6 figure

Electronic transport through ballistic chaotic cavities: reflection symmetry, direct processes, and symmetry breaking

We extend previous studies on transport through ballistic chaotic cavities with spatial left-right (LR) reflection symmetry to include the presence of direct processes. We first analyze fully LR-symmetric systems in the presence of direct processes and compare the distribution w(T) of the transmission coefficient T with that for an asymmetric cavity with the same "optical" S matrix. We then study the problem of "external mixing" of the symmetry caused by an asymmetric coupling of the cavity to the outside. We first consider the case where symmetry breaking arises because two symmetrically positioned waveguides are coupled to the cavity by means of asymmetric tunnel barriers. Although this system is asymmetric with respect to the LR operation, it has a striking memory of the symmetry of the cavity it was constructed from. Secondly, we break LR symmetry in the absence of direct proceses by asymmetrically positioning the two waveguides and compare the results with those for the completely asymmetric case.Comment: 15 pages, 8 Postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

One Dimensional Chain with Long Range Hopping

The one-dimensional (1D) tight binding model with random nearest neighbor hopping is known to have a singularity of the density of states and of the localization length at the band center. We study numerically the effects of random long range (power-law) hopping with an ensemble averaged magnitude \expectation{|t_{ij}|} \propto |i-j|^{-\sigma} in the 1D chain, while maintaining the particle-hole symmetry present in the nearest neighbor model. We find, in agreement with results of position space renormalization group techniques applied to the random XY spin chain with power-law interactions, that there is a change of behavior when the power-law exponent $\sigma$ becomes smaller than 2

Universal Correlations of Coulomb Blockade Conductance Peaks and the Rotation Scaling in Quantum Dots

We show that the parametric correlations of the conductance peak amplitudes of a chaotic or weakly disordered quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime become universal upon an appropriate scaling of the parameter. We compute the universal forms of this correlator for both cases of conserved and broken time reversal symmetry. For a symmetric dot the correlator is independent of the details in each lead such as the number of channels and their correlation. We derive a new scaling, which we call the rotation scaling, that can be computed directly from the dot's eigenfunction rotation rate or alternatively from the conductance peak heights, and therefore does not require knowledge of the spectrum of the dot. The relation of the rotation scaling to the level velocity scaling is discussed. The exact analytic form of the conductance peak correlator is derived at short distances. We also calculate the universal distributions of the average level width velocity for various values of the scaled parameter. The universality is illustrated in an Anderson model of a disordered dot.Comment: 35 pages, RevTex, 6 Postscript figure

Classical trajectories in quantum transport at the band center of bipartite lattices with or without vacancies

Here we report on several anomalies in quantum transport at the band center of a bipartite lattice with vacancies that are surely due to its chiral symmetry, namely: no weak localization effect shows up, and, when leads have a single channel the transmission is either one or zero. We propose that these are a consequence of both the chiral symmetry and the large number of states at the band center. The probability amplitude associated to the eigenstate that gives unit transmission ressembles a classical trajectory both with or without vacancies. The large number of states allows to build up trajectories that elude the blocking vacancies explaining the absence of weak localization.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Fokker-Planck equations and density of states in disordered quantum wires

We propose a general scheme to construct scaling equations for the density of states in disordered quantum wires for all ten pure Cartan symmetry classes. The anomalous behavior of the density of states near the Fermi level for the three chiral and four Bogoliubov-de Gennes universality classes is analysed in detail by means of a mapping to a scaling equation for the reflection from a quantum wire in the presence of an imaginary potential.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, revised versio

Universality of Parametric Spectral Correlations: Local versus Extended Perturbing Potentials

We explore the influence of an arbitrary external potential perturbation V on the spectral properties of a weakly disordered conductor. In the framework of a statistical field theory of a nonlinear sigma-model type we find, depending on the range and the profile of the external perturbation, two qualitatively different universal regimes of parametric spectral statistics (i.e. cross-correlations between the spectra of Hamiltonians H and H+V). We identify the translational invariance of the correlations in the space of Hamiltonians as the key indicator of universality, and find the connection between the coordinate system in this space which makes the translational invariance manifest, and the physically measurable properties of the system. In particular, in the case of localized perturbations, the latter turn out to be the eigenphases of the scattering matrix for scattering off the perturbing potential V. They also have a purely statistical interpretation in terms of the moments of the level velocity distribution. Finally, on the basis of this analysis, a set of results obtained recently by the authors using random matrix theory methods is shown to be applicable to a much wider class of disordered and chaotic structures.Comment: 16 pages, 7 eps figures (minor changes and reference [17] added

Bosonic Excitations in Random Media

We consider classical normal modes and non-interacting bosonic excitations in disordered systems. We emphasise generic aspects of such problems and parallels with disordered, non-interacting systems of fermions, and discuss in particular the relevance for bosonic excitations of symmetry classes known in the fermionic context. We also stress important differences between bosonic and fermionic problems. One of these follows from the fact that ground state stability of a system requires all bosonic excitation energy levels to be positive, while stability in systems of non-interacting fermions is ensured by the exclusion principle, whatever the single-particle energies. As a consequence, simple models of uncorrelated disorder are less useful for bosonic systems than for fermionic ones, and it is generally important to study the excitation spectrum in conjunction with the problem of constructing a disorder-dependent ground state: we show how a mapping to an operator with chiral symmetry provides a useful tool for doing this. A second difference involves the distinction for bosonic systems between excitations which are Goldstone modes and those which are not. In the case of Goldstone modes we review established results illustrating the fact that disorder decouples from excitations in the low frequency limit, above a critical dimension $d_c$, which in different circumstances takes the values $d_c=2$ and $d_c=0$. For bosonic excitations which are not Goldstone modes, we argue that an excitation density varying with frequency as $\rho(\omega) \propto \omega^4$ is a universal feature in systems with ground states that depend on the disorder realisation. We illustrate our conclusions with extensive analytical and some numerical calculations for a variety of models in one dimension

The random phase property and the Lyapunov Spectrum for disordered multi-channel systems

A random phase property establishing in the weak coupling limit a link between quasi-one-dimensional random Schrödinger operators and full random matrix theory is advocated. Briefly summarized it states that the random transfer matrices placed into a normal system of coordinates act on the isotropic frames and lead to a Markov process with a unique invariant measure which is of geometric nature. On the elliptic part of the transfer matrices, this measure is invariant under the unitaries in the hermitian symplectic group of the universality class under study. While the random phase property can up to now only be proved in special models or in a restricted sense, we provide strong numerical evidence that it holds in the Anderson model of localization. A main outcome of the random phase property is a perturbative calculation of the Lyapunov exponents which shows that the Lyapunov spectrum is equidistant and that the localization lengths for large systems in the unitary, orthogonal and symplectic ensemble differ by a factor 2 each. In an Anderson-Ando model on a tubular geometry with magnetic field and spin-orbit coupling, the normal system of coordinates is calculated and this is used to derive explicit energy dependent formulas for the Lyapunov spectrum

Exact spectra, spin susceptibilities and order parameter of the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice

Exact spectra of periodic samples are computed up to $N=36$. Evidence of an extensive set of low lying levels, lower than the softest magnons, is exhibited. These low lying quantum states are degenerated in the thermodynamic limit; their symmetries and dynamics as well as their finite-size scaling are strong arguments in favor of N\'eel order. It is shown that the N\'eel order parameter agrees with first-order spin-wave calculations. A simple explanation of the low energy dynamics is given as well as the numerical determinations of the energies, order parameter and spin susceptibilities of the studied samples. It is shown how suitable boundary conditions, which do not frustrate N\'eel order, allow the study of samples with $N=3p+1$ spins. A thorough study of these situations is done in parallel with the more conventional case $N=3p$.Comment: 36 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 13 figures available upon request, LPTL preprin