Feynman's Propagator Applied to Network Models of Localization

Network models of dirty electronic systems are mapped onto an interacting field theory of lower dimensionality by intepreting one space dimension as time. This is accomplished via Feynman's interpretation of anti-particles as particles moving backwards in time. The method developed maps calculation of the moments of the Landauer conductance onto calculation of correlation functions of an interacting field theory of bosons and fermions. The resulting field theories are supersymmetric and closely related to the supersymmetric spin-chain representations of network models recently discussed by various authors. As an application of the method, the two-edge Chalker-Coddington model is shown to be Anderson localized, and a delocalization transition in a related two-edge network model (recently discussed by Balents and Fisher) is studied by calculation of the average Landauer conductance.Comment: Latex, 14 pages, 2 fig

Transport of Surface States in the Bulk Quantum Hall Effect

The two-dimensional surface of a coupled multilayer integer quantum Hall system consists of an anisotropic chiral metal. This unusual metal is characterized by ballistic motion transverse and diffusive motion parallel (\hat{z}) to the magnetic field. Employing a network model, we calculate numerically the phase coherent two-terminal z-axis conductance and its mesoscopic fluctuations. Quasi-1d localization effects are evident in the limit of many layers. We consider the role of inelastic de-phasing effects in modifying the transport of the chiral surface sheath, discussing their importance in the recent experiments of Druist et al.Comment: 9 pages LaTex, 9 postscript figures included using eps

Multifractality at the spin quantum Hall transition

Statistical properties of critical wave functions at the spin quantum Hall transition are studied both numerically and analytically (via mapping onto the classical percolation). It is shown that the index $\eta$ characterizing the decay of wave function correlations is equal to 1/4, at variance with the $r^{-1/2}$ decay of the diffusion propagator. The multifractality spectra of eigenfunctions and of two-point conductances are found to be close-to-parabolic, $\Delta_q\simeq q(1-q)/8$ and $X_q\simeq q(3-q)/4$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Superconducting ``metals'' and ``insulators''

We propose a characterization of zero temperature phases in disordered superconductors on the basis of the nature of quasiparticle transport. In three dimensional systems, there are two distinct phases in close analogy to the distinction between normal metals and insulators: the superconducting "metal" with delocalized quasiparticle excitations and the superconducting "insulator" with localized quasiparticles. We describe experimental realizations of either phase, and study their general properties theoretically. We suggest experiments where it should be possible to tune from one superconducting phase to the other, thereby probing a novel "metal-insulator" transition inside a superconductor. We point out various implications of our results for the phase transitions where the superconductor is destroyed at zero temperature to form either a normal metal or a normal insulator.Comment: 18 page

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

Plateaux Transitions in the Pairing Model:Topology and Selection Rule

Based on the two-dimensional lattice fermion model, we discuss transitions between different pairing states. Each phase is labeled by an integer which is a topological invariant and characterized by vortices of the Bloch wavefunction. The transitions between phases with different integers obey a selection rule. Basic properties of the edge states are revealed. They reflect the topological character of the bulk. Transitions driven by randomness are also discussed numerically.Comment: 8 pages with 2 postscript figures, RevTe

Absence of a metallic phase in random-bond Ising models in two dimensions: applications to disordered superconductors and paired quantum Hall states

When the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model is represented as a noninteracting fermion problem, it has the same symmetries as an ensemble of random matrices known as class D. A nonlinear sigma model analysis of the latter in two dimensions has previously led to the prediction of a metallic phase, in which the fermion eigenstates at zero energy are extended. In this paper we argue that such behavior cannot occur in the random-bond Ising model, by showing that the Ising spin correlations in the metallic phase violate the bound on such correlations that results from the reality of the Ising couplings. Some types of disorder in spinless or spin-polarized p-wave superconductors and paired fractional quantum Hall states allow a mapping onto an Ising model with real but correlated bonds, and hence a metallic phase is not possible there either. It is further argued that vortex disorder, which is generic in the fractional quantum Hall applications, destroys the ordered or weak-pairing phase, in which nonabelian statistics is obtained in the pure case.Comment: 13 pages; largely independent of cond-mat/0007254; V. 2: as publishe

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

Localization and fluctuations of local spectral density on tree-like structures with large connectivity: Application to the quasiparticle line shape in quantum dots

We study fluctuations of the local density of states (LDOS) on a tree-like lattice with large branching number $m$. The average form of the local spectral function (at given value of the random potential in the observation point) shows a crossover from the Lorentzian to semicircular form at $\alpha\sim 1/m$, where $\alpha= (V/W)^2$, $V$ is the typical value of the hopping matrix element, and $W$ is the width of the distribution of random site energies. For $\alpha>1/m^2$ the LDOS fluctuations (with respect to this average form) are weak. In the opposite case, $\alpha<1/m^2$, the fluctuations get strong and the average LDOS ceases to be representative, which is related to the existence of the Anderson transition at $\alpha_c\sim 1/(m^2\log^2m)$. On the localized side of the transition the spectrum is discrete, and LDOS is given by a set of $\delta$-like peaks. The effective number of components in this regime is given by $1/P$, with $P$ being the inverse participation ratio. It is shown that $P$ has in the transition point a limiting value $P_c$ close to unity, $1-P_c\sim 1/\log m$, so that the system undergoes a transition directly from the deeply localized to extended phase. On the side of delocalized states, the peaks in LDOS get broadened, with a width $\sim\exp\{-{const}\log m[(\alpha-\alpha_c)/\alpha_c]^{-1/2}\}$ being exponentially small near the transition point. We discuss application of our results to the problem of the quasiparticle line shape in a finite Fermi system, as suggested recently by Altshuler, Gefen, Kamenev, and Levitov.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. Misprints in eqs.(21) and (28) corrected, section VII added. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Unitary limit and quantum interference effect in disordered two-dimensional crystals with nearly half-filled bands

Based on the self-consistent $T$-matrix approximation, the quantum interference (QI) effect is studied with the diagrammatic technique in weakly-disordered two-dimensional crystals with nearly half-filled bands. In addition to the usual 0-mode cooperon and diffuson, there exist $\pi$-mode cooperon and diffuson in the unitary limit due to the particle-hole symmetry. The diffusive $\pi$-modes are gapped by the deviation from the exactly-nested Fermi surface. The conductivity diagrams with the gapped $\pi$-mode cooperon or diffuson are found to give rise to unconventional features of the QI effect. Besides the inelastic scattering, the thermal fluctuation is shown to be also an important dephasing mechanism in the QI processes related with the diffusive $\pi$-modes. In the proximity of the nesting case, a power-law anti-localization effect appears due to the $\pi$-mode diffuson. For large deviation from the nested Fermi surface, this anti-localization effect is suppressed, and the conductivity remains to have the usual logarithmic weak-localization correction contributed by the 0-mode cooperon. As a result, the dc conductivity in the unitary limit becomes a non-monotonic function of the temperature or the sample size, which is quite different from the prediction of the usual weak-localization theory.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure