We use the regularized kernel polynomial method (RKPM) to numerically study the effect disorder on a single layer of graphene. This accurate numerical method enables us to study very large lattices with millions of sites, and hence is almost free of finite size errors. Within this approach, both weak and strong disorder regimes are handled on the same footing. We study the tight-binding model with on-site disorder, on the honeycomb lattice. We find that in the weak disorder regime, the Dirac fermions remain extended and their velocities decrease as the disorder strength is increased. However, if the disorder is strong enough, there will be a {\em mobility edge} separating {\em localized states around the Fermi point}, from the remaining extended states. This is in contrast to the scaling theory of localization which predicts that all states are localized in two-dimensions (2D).
The phase diagram of correlated, disordered electrons is calculated within dynamical mean--field theory using the geometrically averaged (''typical'') local density of states. Correlated metal, Mott insulator and Anderson insulator phases, as well as coexistence and crossover regimes are identified. The Mott and Anderson insulators are found to be continuously connected.
The Mott-Anderson transition in the disordered charge-transfer model displays several new features in comparison to what is found in the disordered single-band Hubbard model, as recently demonstrated by large-scale computational (statistical dynamical mean field theory) studies. Here we show that a much simpler typical medium theory approach (TMT-DMFT) to the same model is able to capture most qualitative and even quantitative aspects of the phase diagram, the emergence of an intermediate electronic Griffiths phase, and the critical behavior close to the metal-insulator transition. Conceptual …
We demonstrate that local density of states fluctuations in disordered Anderson lattice models universally lead to the emergence of non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior. The NFL regime appears at moderate disorder (W = W_c) and is characterized by power-law anomalies, e. g. C/T ~ 1/T^{(1-α)}, where the exponent αvaries continuously with disorder, as in other Griffiths phases. This Griffiths phase is not associated with the proximity to any magnetic ordering, but reflects the approach to a disorder-driven metal-insulator transition (MIT). Remarkably, the MIT takes place only at much larger disorder …
We consider a local moment which is coupled by a non-random Kondo $J$ to a band of conduction electrons in a random potential. We prove an analog of Anderson's theorem in a large-N limit of this model. The theorem states that when the disorder is weak, the disorder-averaged low-temperature thermodynamics is independent of the strength of the disorder; remarkably, it further states that fluctuation effects in the long-time limit are {\it independent even of the realization of the disorder}. We discuss the relationship of this theorem to theoretical and experimental studies of similar problems.
We review recent progress in our theoretical understanding of strongly correlated fermion systems in the presence of disorder. Results were obtained by the application of a powerful nonperturbative approach, the Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT), to interacting disordered lattice fermions. In particular, we demonstrate that DMFT combined with geometric averaging over disorder can capture Anderson localization and Mott insulating phases on the level of one-particle correlation functions. Results are presented for the ground-state phase diagram of the Anderson-Hubbard model at half filling, bot…
We discuss conditions to be put on mean-field-like theories to be able to describe fundamental physical phenomena in disordered electron systems. In particular, we investigate options for a consistent mean-field theory of electron localization and for a reliable description of transport properties. We argue that a mean-field theory for the Anderson localization transition must be electron-hole symmetric and self-consistent at the two-particle (vertex) level. We show that such a theory with local equations can be derived from the asymptotic limit to high spatial dimensions. The weight of the di…
Based on the statistical dynamical mean field theory, we investigate, in a generic model for a strongly coupled disordered electron-phonon system, the competition between polaron formation and Anderson localization. The statistical dynamical mean field approximation maps the lattice problem to an ensemble of self-consistently embedded impurity problems. It is a probabilistic approach, focusing on the distribution instead of the average values for observables of interest. We solve the self-consistent equations of the theory with a Monte-Carlo sampling technique, representing distributions for r…
We use the density matrix renormalization group to study the quantum transitions that occur in the half-filled one-dimensional fermionic Hubbard model with onsite potential disorder. We find a transition from the gapped Mott phase with algebraic spin correlations to a gapless spin-disordered phase beyond a critical strength of the disorder $Δ_c \approx U/2$. Both the transitions in the charge and spin sectors are shown to be coincident. We also establish the finite-size corrections to the charge gap and the spin-spin correlation length in the presence of disorder and using a finite-size-scalin…
We report the existence of a localization-delocalization transition in the classical plasma modes of a one dimensional Wigner Crystal with a white noise potential environment at T=0. Finite size scaling analysis reveals a divergence of the localization length at a critical eigenfrequency. Further scaling analysis indicates power law behavior of the critical frequency in terms of the relative interaction strength of the charges. A heuristic argument for this scaling behavior is consistent with the numerical results. Additionally, we explore a particular realization of random-bond disorder in a …
We show that the very small numeric effects discussed in the comment by Schleede et al (arXiv:1005.0497) is not the source of mobility edge predicted in graphene in our letter [Eur. Phys. Lett., 87 (2009) 37002].
We investigate the effect of hole and electron doping to half-filling in the periodic Anderson model on a triangular lattice by the Hartree-Fock approximation at zero temperature. At half-filling, the system exhibits a partially disordered insulating state, in which a collinear antiferromagnetic order on an unfrustrated honeycomb subnetwork coexists with nonmagnetic state at the remaining sites. We find that the carrier doping destabilizes the partially disordered state, resulting in a phase separation to a doped metallic state with different magnetic order. The partially disordered state is r…
The effect of binary alloy disorder on the ferromagnetic phases of f-electron materials is studied within the periodic Anderson model. We find that disorder in the conduction band can drastically enhance the Curie temperature due to an increase of the local f-moment. The effect may be explained qualitatively and even quantitatively by a simple theoretical ansatz. The emergence of an alloy Kondo insulator at non-integer filling is also pointed out.
We investigate the Mott-Anderson physics in interacting disordered one-dimensional chains through the average single-site entanglement quantified by the linear entropy, which is obtained via density-functional theory calculations. We show that the minimum disorder strength required to the so-called full Anderson localization $-$ characterized by the real-space localization of pairs $-$ is strongly dependent on the interaction regime. The degree of localization is found to be intrinsically related to the interplay between the correlations and the disorder potential. In magnetized systems, the m…
We calculate numerically the entanglement entropy of free fermion ground states in one-, two- and three-dimensional Anderson models, and find that it obeys the area law as long as the linear size of the subsystem is sufficiently larger than the mean free path. This result holds in the metallic phase of the three-dimensional Anderson model, where the mean free path is finite although the localization length is infinite. Relation between the present results and earlier ones on area law violation in special one-dimensional models that support metallic phases is discussed.
We study the interplay of disorder and interaction effects including bosonic degrees of freedom in the framework of a generic one-dimensional transport model, the Anderson-Edwards model. Using the density-matrix renormalization group technique, we extract the localization length and the renormalization of the Tomonaga Luttinger liquid parameter from the charge-structure factor by a elaborate sample-average finite-size scaling procedure. The properties of the Anderson localized state can be described in terms of scaling relations of the metallic phase without disorder. We analyze how disorder c…
Disorder effects strongly influence the transport properties of graphene based nanodevices even to the point of Anderson localization. Focusing on the local density of states and its distribution function, we analyze the localization properties of actual size graphene nanoribbons. In particular we determine the time evolution and localization length of the single particle wave function in dependence on the ribbon extension and edge geometry, as well as on the disorder type and strength.
Weyl semimetal, a three-dimensional electronic system with relativistic linear energy dispersion around gapless points carrying nontrivial Berry charge, is predicted to exhibit a wealth of unique response and transport properties.A crucial question is whether those properties are robust against disorder and whether Anderson localization occurs.In this work, the effects of nonperturbative topological (vortex loop) excitations and Berry phase in disordered time-reversal invariant 3d Weyl semimetal are studied.It is shown that the chiral symmetry is restored in the nonlinear sigma model describin…
We study the quantum phase diagram of a three dimensional non-interacting Dirac semimetal in the presence of either quenched axial or scalar potential disorder, by calculating the average and the typical density of states as well as the inverse participation ratio using numerically exact methods. We show that as a function of the disorder strength a half-filled (i.e. undoped) Dirac semimetal displays three distinct ground states, namely an incompressible semimetal, a compressible diffusive metal, and a localized Anderson insulator, in stark contrast to a conventional dirty metal that only supp…
Spectral statistics of disordered systems encode Thouless and Heisenberg time scales whose ratio determines whether the system is chaotic or localized. Identifying similarities between system size and disorder strength scaling of Thouless time for disordered quantum many-body systems with results for 3D and 5D Anderson models, we argue that the two-parameter scaling breaks down in the vicinity of the transition to the localized phase signalling subdiffusive dynamics.
The magnetic properties of disordered graphene and irradiated graphite are systematically studied using a combination of mean-field Hubbard model and first-principles calculations. By considering large-scale disordered models of graphene, I conclude that only single-atom defects can induce ferromagnetism in graphene-based materials. The preserved stacking order of graphene layers is shown to be another necessary condition for achieving a finite net magnetic moment of irradiated graphite. Ab initio calculations of hydrogen binding and diffusion and of interstitial-vacancy recombination further …
We study theoretically the Kondo effect for a magnetic adatom on graphene using the Anderson model.Upon obtaining the Green's function of the impurity to higher order contributions in the hybridization, we calculated analytically the selfenergy in the presence of strong correlations.It is found that the Kondo resonance takes place in a narrow energy range of the impurity level around the Fermi energy which can be tuned by a gate voltage.We show that this range is linear in the Fermi energy $|μ|$ and is significantly narrower than in the case for a normal metal.The origin of this behavior is tr…
Based on distributions of local Green's functions we present a stochastic approach to disordered systems. Specifically we address Anderson localisation and cluster effects in binary alloys. Taking Anderson localisation of Holstein polarons as an example we discuss how this stochastic approach can be used for the investigation of interacting disordered systems.
We study the property of a magnetic impurity on a single-layer graphene within an Anderson impurity model. Due to the vanishing local density of states at the Fermi level in graphene, the impurity spin cannot be effectively screened out. Treating the problem within the Gutzwiller approximation, we found a region in the parameter space of $U$-$E^f$ where the impurity is in the local moment state, which is characterized by a zero effective hybridization between the bath electron and the magnetic impurity. Here $U$ is the onsite Coulomb repulsion of the impurity electrons and $E^f$ the impurity e…
We study the ground state phase diagram of the Anderson-Hubbard model with correlated hopping at half filling in one-dimension. The Hamiltonian has a local Coulomb repulsion $U$ and a disorder potential with local energies randomly distributed in the interval $(-W,+W)$ with equal probability, acting on the singly occupied sites. The hopping process which modifies the number of doubly occupied sites is forbidden. The hopping between nearest-neighbor singly occupied and empty sites or between singly occupied and doubly occupied sites have the same amplitude $t$. We identify three different phase…
We analyse the topological transition and localization evolution of disordered two dimensional systems with non trivial topology based on bipartite lattices. Chern insulators with broken time reversal symmetry show non standard behavior for disorder realizations selectively distributed on only one of the sublattices. The Chern number survives to a much stronger disorder strength (one order of magnitude higher) than in the equally distributed disordered case and the final state in the strongly disordered case is metallic.
The emergence of correlated insulating phases in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene exhibits strong sample dependence. Here, we derive an Anderson theorem governing the robustness against disorder of the Kramers intervalley coherent (K-IVC) state, a prime candidate for describing the correlated insulators at even fillings of the moiré flat bands. We find that the K-IVC gap is robust against local perturbations, which are odd under $\mathcal{PT}$, where $\mathcal{P}$ and $\mathcal{T}$ denote particle-hole conjugation and time reversal, respectively. In contrast, $\mathcal{PT}$-even perturbati…
We study the electronic properties of actual-size graphene nanoribbons subjected to substitutional disorder particularly with regard to the experimentally observed metal-insulator transition. Calculating the local, mean and typical density of states, as well as the time-evolution of the particle density we comment on a possible disorder-induced localisation of charge carriers at and close to the Dirac point within a percolation transition scenario.
The Anderson model of an $s$-wave single-orbital correlated impurity placed on a noninteracting honeycomb lattice, a simplified model for studying an impurity on graphene, is used to investigate pseudogap Kondo problem. In this model, there are two quantum phases: the phase of free impurity local moment and the Kondo phase where this local moment is fully screened. The transition between these two phases is under investigation. The work focuses mostly on the case where the impurity is placed on top of a lattice site. In this case, the full phase diagram is constructed using three parameters: t…
We study interacting Dirac quasiparticles in disordered graphene and find that an interplay between the unscreened Coulomb interactions and pseudo-relativistic quasiparticle kinematics can be best revealed in the ballistic regime, whereas in the diffusive limit the behavior is qualitatively (albeit, not quantitatively) similar to that of the ordinary 2DEG with parabolic dispersion. We calculate the quasiparticle width and density of states that can be probed by photoemission, tunneling, and magnetization measurements.
Interacting disordered zigzag graphene nanoribbons have fractional charges, are quasi-one-dimensional, and display an exponentially small gap. Our numerical computations showed that the topological entanglement entropy of these systems has a small finite but universal value, independent of the strength of the interaction and the disorder. The result that was obtained for the topological entanglement entropy shows that the disorder-free phase is critical and becomes unstable in the presence of disorder.
