Chapter 20 in "50 Years of Anderson Localization", ed. E. Abrahams (World Scientific, Singapore, 2010), p. 473; reprinted in Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 24, 1727 (2010)
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, both in the paramagnetic phase and in the presence of antiferromagnetic order. We find a new antiferromagnetic metal which is stabilized by disorder. Possible realizations of these quantum phases with ultracold fermions in optical lattices are discussed.
Non-interacting systems with bounded disorder have been shown to exhibit sharp density of states peaks at the band edge which coincide with an energy range of abruptly suppressed localization. Recent work has shown that these features also occur in the presence of on-site interactions in ensembles of two-site Anderson-Hubbard systems at half filling. Here we demonstrate that this effect in interacting systems persists away from half filling, and moreover that energy regions with suppressed localization continue to appear in ensembles of larger systems despite a loss of sharp features in the de…
A metal can be driven to an insulating phase through distinct mechanisms. A possible way is via the Coulomb interaction, which then defines the Mott metal-insulator transition (MIT). Another possibility is the MIT driven by disorder, the so-called Anderson MIT. Here we analyze interacting particles in disordered Hubbard chains $-$ thus comprising the Mott-Anderson physics $-$ by investigating the ground-state entanglement with density functional theory. The localization signature on entanglement is found to be a local minimum at a certain critical density. Individually, the Mott (Anderson) MIT…
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…
The periodic Anderson model (PAM) is studied within the framework of dynamical mean-field theory, with particular emphasis on the interaction-driven Mott transition it contains, and on resultant Mott insulators of both Mott-Hubbard and charge-transfer type. The form of the PAM phase diagram is first deduced on general grounds using two exact results, over the full range of model parameters and including metallic, Mott, Kondo and band insulator phases.The effective low-energy model which describes the PAM in the vicinity of a Mott transition is then shown to be a one-band Hubbard model, with ef…
We derive the disorder vs. doping phase diagram of the doped Hubbard model via Dynamical Mean Field Theory combined with Typical Medium Theory, which allows the description of both Mott (correlation driven) and Anderson (disorder driven) metal-insulator transitions. We observe a transition from a metal to an Anderson-Mott insulator for increasing disorder strength at all interactions. In the weak correlation regime and rather small doping, the Anderson-Mott insulator displays properties which are alike to the ones found at half-filling. In particular, this phase is characterized by the presenc…
Determining the nature of band gaps in transition-metal compounds remains challenging. We present a first-principles study on electronic and optical properties of CoO using hybrid functional pseudopotentials. We show that optical absorption spectrum can provide a clear fingerprint to distinguish between Mott-Hubbard, intermediate and charge-transfer insulators. This discrimination is reflected by the qualitative difference in peak satellites due to unique interplay between $d$-$d$ and $p$-$d$ excitations, thus allowing identification from experimental data alone, unlike the existing methods th…
