We study the transport properties of a neutral graphene sheet with curved regions induced or stabilized by topological defects. The proposed model gives rise to Dirac fermions in a random magnetic field and in the random space dependent Fermi velocity induced by the curvature. This last term leads to singular long range correlated disorder with special characteristics. The Drude minimal conductivity at zero energy is found to be inversely proportional to the density of topological disorder, a signature of diffusive behavior.
Frequency dependent conductivity of Coulomb interacting massless Dirac fermions coupled to random scalar and random vector potentials is found as a function of frequency in the regime controlled by a line of fixed points. Such model provides a low energy description of a weakly rippled suspended graphene. The main finding is that at the neutrality point the a.c. conductivity is not frequency independent and may either increase or decrease with decreasing frequency, depending on the values of the disorder variances $Δ_ϕ$, $Δ_{A}$ and the Coulomb coupling $α=e^2/(\eps v_F)$. The low frequency be…
The DC conductivity of monolayer and bilayer graphene is studied perturbatively for different types of disorder. In the case of monolayer, an exact cancellation of logarithmic divergences occurs for all disorder types. The total conductivity correction for a random vector potential is zero, while for a random scalar potential and a random gap it acquires finite corrections. We identify the diagrams which are responsible for these corrections and extrapolate the finite contributions to higher orders which gives us general expressions for the conductivity of weakly disordered monolayer graphene.…
We reveal the intricate impact of nonlinearity and disorder on the thermal conductivity of acoustic chains. Disorder induces mobility edges and allows to control the amount of extended modes which are the ballistic channels for energy transport. Nonlinearity adds a diffusive conductivity channel through interacting localized modes, and controls the contact resistance at the edges. Analytical arguments and numerical results yield several crossovers between dominating heat channels, when varying the system size and the temperature. We demonstrate that the nonlinearity-induced interaction between…
We study heat conduction in one dimensional mass disordered harmonic and anharmonic lattices. It is found that the thermal conductivity $κ$ of the disordered anharmonic lattice is finite at low temperature, whereas it diverges as $κ\sim N^{0.43}$ at high temperature. Moreover, we demonstrate that a unique nonequilibrium stationary state in the disordered harmonic lattice does not exist at all.
For the hopping dynamics in a one-dimensional model, containing energy and barrier disorder, we determine the linear and nonlinear response to an external field for arbitrary external frequencies. The calculation is performed in analytical terms. We systematically analyze the parameter space and find three different regimes, corresponding to qualitatively different frequency dependencies of the nonlinear response. Two regimes agree with the results of recent conductivity experiments on inorganic ion conductors and ionic liquids, respectively. The ratio of the nonlinear and linear conductivity …
Mean-field theory of non-interacting disordered electron systems is widely and successfully used to describe equilibrium properties of alloys in the whole range of disorder strengths. It, however, fails to take into account effects of quantum coherence and localizing back-scattering effects when applied to transport phenomena. We present an approximate scheme extending the mean-field theory for one-electron properties in that it offers a formula for the two-particle vertex and the electrical conductivity non-perturbatively including the leading-order vertex corrections in a way that the approx…
A disordered array of metal grains with large and random intergrain conductances is studied within the one-loop accuracy renormalization group approach. While at low level of disorder the dependence of conductivity on log T is nonuniversal (it depends on details of the array's geometry), for strong disorder this dependence is described by a universal nonlinear function, which depends only on the array's dimensionality. In two dimensions this function is found numerically. The dimensional crossover in granular films is discussed.
We present a unified understanding of the experimentally observed minimal dc conductivity in weakly disordered graphene. Firstly, based on linear response theory, we reveal that randomness or disorder inevitably induces momentum dependent corrections to the electron self-energy function, which naturally yields a sample-dependent minimal conductivity. Taking the long-ranged Gaussian and Coulomb potentials as examples, we derive the momentum dependent self-energy function within the Born approximation, and further validate it via numerical simulations using the large-scale Lanczos algorithm. The…
It is well known that the contribution of harmonic phonons to the thermal conductivity of 1D systems diverges with the harmonic chain length $L$ (explicitly, increases with $L$ as a power-law with a positive power). Furthermore, within various one-dimensional models containing disorder it was shown that this divergence persists, with the thermal conductivity scaling as $\sqrt{L}$ under certain boundary conditions, where $L$ is the length of the harmonic chain. Here we show that when the chain is weakly coupled to the heat reservoirs and there is strong disorder this scaling can be violated. We…
The thermal conductivity of some orientational glasses of protonated C2H5OH and deuterated C2D5OD ethanol, cyclic substances (cyclohexanol C6H11OH, cyanocyclohexane C6H11CN, cyclohexene C6H10), and freon 112 (CFCl2)2 have been analyzed in the temperature interval 2-130 K. The investigated substances demonstrate new effects concerned with the physics of disordered systems. Universal temperature dependences of the thermal conductivity of molecular orientational glasses have been revealed. At low temperatures, the thermal conductivity exhibits a universal behavior that can be described by the sof…
We consider the conductivity $σ_{xx}$ of graphene with negligible intervalley scattering at half filling. We derive the effective field theory, which, for the case of a potential disorder, is a symplectic-class $σ$-model including a topological term with $θ=π$. As a consequence, the system is at a quantum critical point with a universal value of the conductivity of the order of $e^2/h$. When the effective time reversal symmetry is broken, the symmetry class becomes unitary, and $σ_{xx}$ acquires the value characteristic for the quantum Hall transition.
We study electron transport properties of a monoatomic graphite layer (graphene) with different types of disorder at half filling. We show that the transport properties of the system depend strongly on the symmetry of disorder. We find that the localization is ineffective if the randomness preserves one of the chiral symmetries of the clean Hamiltonian or does not mix valleys. We obtain the exact value of minimal conductivity $4e^2/πh$ in the case of chiral disorder. For long-range disorder (decoupled valleys), we derive the effective field theory. In the case of smooth random potential, it is…
We reinvestigate the behavior of the conductivity of several disordered quantum lattice models at infinite temperature using exact diagonalization. Contrary to the conclusion drawn in a recent investigation of similar quantities in identical systems, we find evidence of a localized regime for strong random fields. We estimate the location of the critical field for the many-body localization transition for the random-field XXZ spin chain, and compare our findings with recent investigations in related systems.
We analyze theoretically the conductivity of Weyl semimetals within the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA) in the full range of disorder strength, from weak to strong disorder. In the range of intermediate disorder, we find a critical regime which separates the semimetal and diffusion regimes. While the numerical values of the critical exponents are not expected to be exact within the SCBA, the approach allows us to calculate functional dependences of various observables (density of states, quasiparticle broadening, conductivity) in a closed form. This sheds more light on the qualitativ…
In the ideal disorder-free situation, a two-dimensional band gap insulator has an activation energy for conductivity equal to half the band gap $Δ$. But transport experiments usually exhibit a much smaller activation energy at low temperature, and the relation between this activation energy and $Δ$ is unclear. Here we consider the temperature-dependent conductivity of a two-dimensional insulator on a substrate containing Coulomb impurities, with random potential amplitude $Γ\gg Δ$. We show that the conductivity generically exhibits three regimes of conductivity, and only the highest temperatur…
Among the many physical properties, the amorphous state manifests itself in the most spectacular way in heat transport. Anomalously low thermal conductivity, its low-temperature dependence as a function of temperature, the presence of a plateau of thermal conductivity, all are definitely different when compared with the ordered state of crystals. For this reason, the microscopic mechanisms from which these surprising behaviors may emerge have been the subject of intensive theoretical research and even more extensive experimental research. These investigations have led to the detection of a hug…
Topological Weyl semimetals, besides manifesting chiral anomaly, can also accommodate a disorder-driven unconventional quantum phase transition into a metallic phase. A fundamentally and practically important question in this regard concerns an experimentally measurable quantity that can clearly distinguish these two phases. We show that the optical conductivity while serving this purpose can also play the role of a bonafide order parameter across such disorder-driven semimetal-metal quantum phase transition by virtue of displaying distinct scaling behavior in semimetallic and metallic phases,…
Several lattices, such as the dice or the Lieb lattice, possess Dirac cones and a flat band crossing the Dirac point, whose effective model is the pseudospin-1 Dirac-Weyl equation. We investigate the fate of the flat band in the presence of disorder by focusing on the density of states (DOS) and dc conductivity. While the central hub-site does not reveal the presence of the flat band, the sublattice resolved DOS on the non-central sites exhibits a narrow peak with height ~ 1/\sqrt{g} with g the dimensionless disorder variance. Although the group velocity is zero on the flat band, the dc conduc…
We study transport properties of a disordered tight-binding model (XX spin chain) in the presence of dephasing. Focusing on diffusive behavior in the thermodynamic limit at high energies, we analytically derive the dependence of conductivity on dephasing and disorder strengths. As a function of dephasing, conductivity exhibits a single maximum at the optimal dephasing strength. The scaling of the position of this maximum with disorder strength is different for small and large disorder. In addition, we study periodic disorder for which we find a resonance phenomenon, with conductivity having tw…
In this paper, thermal transport in bond-disordered harmonic chains is revisited in detail using a nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. For strong bond disorder, thermal conductivity is independent of the system size. However, kinetic temperatures described by the local number of states coupling to external heat reservoirs are anomalous since they form a nonlinear profile in the interior of the system. Both results are accounted for in a unified manner in terms of the frequency-dependent localization length. From this argument, we derive a generic formula describing the asymptotic profil…
Motivated by anomalously large conductivity anisotropy in layered materials, we propose a simple model of randomly spaced potential barriers (mimicking stacking faults) with isotropic impurities in between the barriers. We solve this model both numerically and analytically, by utilizing an exact solution for the conductivity of a one-dimensional (1D) disordered system. In the absence of bulk disorder, electron motion in the out-of-plane direction is localized. Bulk disorder destroys 1D localization. As a result, the out-of-plane conductivity is finite and scales linearly with the scattering ra…
In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 63 (2001)], Li et al have reported that the nonequilibrium heat conducting steady state of a disordered harmonic chain is not unique. In this comment we point out that for a large class of stochastic heat baths the uniqueness of the steady state can be proved, and therefore the findings of Li et al could be either due to their use of deterministic heat baths or insufficient equilibration times in the simulations. We give a simple example where the uniquness of the steady state can be explicitly demonstrated.
A quantum phase transition is a dramatic event marked by large spatial and temporal fluctuations, where one phase of matter with its ground state and tower of excitations reorganizes into a completely different phase. We provide new insight into the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) in two dimensions, a problem of great theoretical and experimental interest, with the dynamical conductivity σ(ω) and the bosonic (pair) spectral function P(ω) calculated from quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We identify characteristic energy scales in the superconducting and insulating phas…
Quantum transport in three-dimensional massless Dirac electron system with long-range Gaussian impurities is studied theoretically using a self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA). We find that the conductivity significantly changes the behavior at a certain scattering strength which separates the weak and strong disorder regimes. In the weak disorder regime, the SCBA conductivity mostly agrees with the Boltzmann conductivity, while the agreement fails near the Dirac point where the SCBA conductivity drops to zero linearly to the Fermi energy. In the strong disorder regime, the conductivity i…
We have studied the longitudinal thermal conductivity of the surface of a three-dimensional time-reversal symmetric topological superconductor with random disorder. Majorana fermions on the surface of topological superconductors have a response to the gravitational field, which is realized as a thermal response to the temperature gradient inside of the material. Because of the presence of both time-reversal symmetry and particle-hole symmetry, disorder on the surface emerges in the Hamiltonian only as spatial deformations of the pair potential. In terms of the gravitational field, the disorder…
We are honored to dedicate this article to Emmanuel Rashba on the occasion of his 95 birthday. In the ideal disorder-free situation, a two-dimensional band gap insulator has an activation energy for conductivity equal to half the band gap, $Δ$. But transport experiments usually exhibit a much smaller activation energy at low temperature, and the relation between this activation energy and $Δ$ is unclear. Here we consider the temperature-dependent conductivity of a two-dimensional narrow gap semiconductor on a substrate containing Coulomb impurities, mostly focusing on the case when amplitude o…
Both longitudinal and anomalous Hall conductivity are computed in the model of two-dimensional Dirac fermions with a mass in the presence of arbitrary correlated weak disorder. The anomalous Hall conductivity is shown to be highly sensitive to the correlation properties of the random potential, such as the correlation length, while it remains independent of the integral disorder strength. This property extends beyond the Dirac model making the anomalous Hall effect an interesting tool to probe disorder correlations.
We study electron transport properties of a monoatomic graphite layer (graphene) with different types of disorder. We show that the transport properties of the system depend strongly on the character of disorder. Away from half filling, the concentration dependence of conductivity is linear in the case of strong scatterers, in line with recent experimental observations, and logarithmic for weak scatterers. At half filling the conductivity is of the order of e^2/h if the randomness preserves one of the chiral symmetries of the clean Hamiltonian; otherwise, the conductivity is strongly affected …
We study the electron-electron interaction contribution to the conductivity of two-dimensional In$_{0.2}$Ga$_{0.8}$As electron systems in the diffusion regime over the wide conductivity range, $σ\simeq(1-150) G_0$, where $G_0=e^2/(2π^2\hbar)$. We show that the data are well described within the framework of the one-loop approximation of the renormalization group (RG) theory when the conductivity is relatively high, $σ\gtrsim 15 G_0$. At lower conductivity, the experimental results are found to be in drastic disagreement with the predictions of this theory. The theory predicts much stronger ren…
We study the transport properties of a one dimensional quantum system with disorder. We numerically compute the frequency dependence of the conductivity of a fermionic chain with nearest neighbor interaction and a random chemical potential by using the Chebyshev matrix product state (CheMPS) method. As a benchmark, we investigate the noninteracting case first. Comparison with exact diagonalization and analytical solutions demonstrates that the results of CheMPS are reliable over a wide range of frequencies. We then calculate the dynamical conductivity spectra of the interacting system for vari…
In crystals, molecules thermally vibrate around the periodic lattice sites. Vibrational motions are well understood in terms of phonons, which carry heat and control heat transport. The situation is notably different in disordered solids, where vibrational excitations are not phonons and can be even localized. Recent numerical work has established the concept of elastic heterogeneity: disordered solids show inhomogeneous local mechanical response. Clearly, the heterogeneous nature of elastic properties strongly influences vibrational and thermal properties, and it is expected to be the origin …
We study systems with energy bands in two dimensions, hosting higher order Van Hove singularities (HOVHS) in the presence of disorder, using standard diagrammatic techniques for impurity averaging. In the clean limit, such singularities cause power-law divergence in the density of states (DOS), and this is expected to strongly affect electronic correlation. In order to analyse the signatures of these singularities in disordered systems, we employ various Born approximations, culminating in the self-consistent (non) Born approximation. Although the divergence of the DOS is smeared, we find that…
The dynamic conductivity σ(ω) of graphene in the presence of diagonal white noise disorder and quantizing magnetic field B is calculated. We obtain analytic expressions for σ(ω) in various parametric regimes ranging from the quasiclassical Drude limit corresponding to strongly overlapping Landau levels (LLs) to the extreme quantum limit where the conductivity is determined by the optical selection rules of the clean graphene. The nonequidistant LL spectrum of graphene renders its transport characteristics quantitatively different from conventional 2D electron systems with parabolic spectrum. S…
We study the electronic transport in the lowest Landau level of disordered two-dimensional semimetals placed in a homogeneous perpendicular magnetic field. The material system is modeled by the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian, which has zero energy Landau modes due to the material's intrinsic Berry curvature. These turn out to be crucially important for the density of states and the static conductivity of the disordered system. We develop an analytical approach to the diffusion and conductivity based on a self-consistent equation of motion for the mean squared displacement. The obtained valu…
It is shown that the interplay of long-range disorder and in-plane magnetic field gives rise to an out-of-plane spin polarization and a finite spin Hall conductivity of the two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. A key aspect is provided by the electric-field induced in-plane spin polarization. Our results are obtained first in the \textit{clean} limit where the spin-orbit splitting is much larger than the disorder broadening of the energy levels via the diagrammatic evaluation of the Kubo-formula. Then the results are shown to hold in the full range of the …
We consider heat transport in one-dimensional harmonic chains with isotopic disorder, focussing our attention mainly on how disorder correlations affect heat conduction. Our approach reveals that long-range correlations can change the number of low-frequency extended states. As a result, with a proper choice of correlations one can control how the conductivity $κ$ scales with the chain length $N$. We present a detailed analysis of the role of specific long-range correlations for which a size-independent conductivity is exactly recovered in the case of fixed boundary conditions. As for free bou…
Screening of an external random potential by a two dimensional (2D) Fermi liquid may be strongly dependent on the degree of its polarization. This is considered as a possible mechanism for the observed strong magnetoresistance of the 2D electron liquid in the magnetic field parallel to the electron plane. A Hartree-Fock calculation for the weakly disordered Hubbard model which qualitatively describes the experiments on the diagonal and the Hall resisitivity in the finite-temperature metallic state in the high mobility Si inversion layers is presented.
A central property of Chern insulators is the robustness of the topological phase and edge states to impurities in the system. Despite this, Chern number cannot be straightforwardly calculated in the presence of disorder. Recently, work has been done to propose a local analog of the Chern number, called local markers, that can be used to characterise disordered systems. However, it was unclear whether the proposed markers represented a physically-measurable property of the system. Here we propose a local marker starting from a physical argument, as a local cross-conductivity measured in the bu…
