We present strong numerical evidence for the existence of a localization-delocalization transition in the eigenstates of the 1-D Anderson model with long-range hierarchical hopping. Hierarchical models are important because of the well-known mapping between their phases and those of models with short range hopping in higher dimensions, and also because the renormalization group can be applied exactly without the approximations that generally are required in other models. In the hierarchical Anderson model we find a finite critical disorder strength Wc where the average inverse participation ratio goes to zero; at small disorder W < Wc the model lies in a delocalized phase. This result is based on numerical calculation of the inverse participation ratio in the infinite volume limit using an exact renormalization group approach facilitated by the model's hierarchical structure. Our results are consistent with the presence of an Anderson transition in short-range models with D > 2 dimensions, which was predicted using renormalization group arguments. Our finding should stimulate interest in the hierarchical Anderson model as a simplified and tractable model of the Anderson localization transition which occurs in finite-dimensional systems with short-range hopping.
It is well known that in Anderson localized systems, starting from a random product state the entanglement entropy remains bounded at all times. However, we show that adding a single boundary term to an Anderson localized Hamiltonian leads to unbounded growth of entanglement. Our results imply that Anderson localization is not a local property. One cannot conclude that a subsystem has Anderson localized behavior without looking at the whole system, as a term that is arbitrarily far from the subsystem can affect the dynamics of the subsystem in such a way that the features of Anderson localizat…
Anderson localization is known to be inevitable in one dimension for generic disordered models. Since localization leads to Poissonian energy level statistics, we ask if localized systems possess "additional" integrals of motion as well, so as to enhance the analogy with quantum integrable systems. We answer this in the affirmative in the present work. We construct a set of nontrivial integrals of motion for Anderson localized models, in terms of the original creation and annihilation operators. These are found as a power series in the hopping parameter. The recently found Type-1 Hamiltonians,…
We study the box-measure correlation function of quantum states at the Anderson transition point with taking care of anomalously localized states (ALS). By eliminating ALS from the ensemble of critical wavefunctions, we confirm, for the first time, the scaling relation z(q)=d+2tau(q)-tau(2q) for a wide range of q, where q is the order of box-measure moments and z(q) and tau(q) are the correlation and the mass exponents, respectively. The influence of ALS to the calculation of z(q) is also discussed.
We study the flow of the renormalized model parameters obtained from a sequence of simple transformations of the 1D Anderson model with long-range hierarchical hopping. Combining numerical results with a perturbative approach for the flow equations, we identify three qualitatively different regimes at weak disorder. For a sufficiently fast decay of the hopping energy, the Cauchy distribution is the only stable fixed-point of the flow equations, whereas for sufficiently slowly decaying hopping energy the renormalized parameters flow to a delta peak fixed-point distribution. In an intermediate r…
We show analytically that the apparent non-analyticity discovered recently in the inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the eigenstates in Anderson's model of localization is also present in a simple two-site model, along with a concurrent non-analyticity in the density of states (DOS) at the same energy. We demonstrate its evolution from two sites to the thermodynamic limit by numerical methods. For the two site model, non-analyticity in higher derivatives of the DOS and IPR is also proven to exist for all bounded distributions of disorder.
When light waves propagate through disordered photonic lattices, they can eventually become localized due to multiple scattering effects. Here we show experimentally that while the evolution and localization of the photon density distribution is similar in the two cases of diagonal and off-diagonal disorder, the density-density correlation carries a distinct signature of the type of disorder. We show that these differences reflect a symmetry in the spectrum and eigenmodes that exists in off-diagonally disordered lattices but is absent in lattices with diagonal disorder.
We apply Feshbach-Krein-Schur renormalization techniques in the hierarchical Anderson model to establish a criterion on the single-site distribution which ensures exponential dynamical localization as well as positive inverse participation ratios and Poisson statistics of eigenvalues. Our criterion applies to all cases of exponentially decaying hierarchical hopping strengths and holds even for spectral dimension $d > 2$, which corresponds to the regime of transience of the underlying hierarchical random walk. This challenges recent numerical findings that the spectral dimension is significant …
We study the level-spacing distribution function $P(s)$ at the Anderson transition by paying attention to anomalously localized states (ALS) which contribute to statistical properties at the critical point. It is found that the distribution $P(s)$ for level pairs of ALS coincides with that for pairs of typical multifractal states. This implies that ALS do not affect the shape of the critical level-spacing distribution function. We also show that the insensitivity of $P(s)$ to ALS is a consequence of multifractality in tail structures of ALS.
We study spatial structures of anomalously localized states (ALS) in tail regions at the critical point of the Anderson transition in the two-dimensional symplectic class. In order to examine tail structures of ALS, we apply the multifractal analysis only for the tail region of ALS and compare with the whole structure. It is found that the amplitude distribution in the tail region of ALS is multifractal and values of exponents characterizing multifractality are the same with those for typical multifractal wavefunctions in this universality class.
We consider an electron system under conditions of strong Anderson localization, taking into account interelectron long-range Coulomb repulsion. We have established that with the electron density going to zero the Coulomb interaction brings the arrangement of the Anderson localized electrons closer and closer to an ideal (Wigner) crystal lattice, provided the temperature is sufficiently low and the dimension of the system is > 1. The ordering occurs despite the fact that a random spread of the energy levels of the localized one-electron states, exceeding the mean Coulomb energy per electron, r…
We consider a quantum particle in a one-dimensional disordered lattice with Anderson localization, in the presence of multi-frequency perturbations of the onsite energies. Using the Floquet representation, we transform the eigenvalue problem into a Wannier-Stark basis. Each frequency component contributes either to a single channel or a multi-channel connectivity along the lattice, depending on the control parameters. The single channel regime is essentially equivalent to the undriven case. The multi-channel driving substantially increases the localization length for slow driving, showing two …
In one-dimensional Hermitian tight-binding models, mobility edges separating extended and localized states can appear in the presence of properly engineered quasi-periodical potentials and coupling constants. On the other hand, mobility edges don't exist in a one-dimensional Anderson lattice since localization occurs whenever a diagonal disorder through random numbers is introduced. Here, we consider a nonreciprocal non-Hermitian lattice and show that the coexistence of extended and localized states appears with or without diagonal disorder in the topologically nontrivial region. We discuss th…
Skin-Anderson localization transitions in disordered hybrid-nonreciprocal systems
Tianjin University（天津大学）；Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)（香港中文大学（深圳））；Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University（新加坡国立大学与天津大学联合学院，天津大学国际校区）
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.
Systems which can spontaneously reveal periodic evolution are dubbed time crystals. This is in analogy with space crystals that display periodic behavior in configuration space. While space crystals are modelled with the help of space periodic potentials, crystalline phenomena in time can be modelled by periodically driven systems. Disorder in the periodic driving can lead to Anderson localization in time: the probability for detecting a system at a fixed point of configuration space becomes exponentially localized around a certain moment in time. We here show that a three-dimensional system e…
We study wave transmission through one-dimensional random nonlinear structures and predict a novel effect resulting from an interplay of nonlinearity and disorder. We reveal that, while weak nonlinearity does not change the typical exponentially small transmission in the regime of the Anderson localization, it affects dramatically the disorder-induced localized states excited inside the medium leading to {\em bistable} and {\em nonreciprocal} resonant transmission. Our numerical modelling shows an excellent agreement with theoretical predictions based on the concept of a high-Q resonator assoc…
It has been proposed that the states of fully many-body localized systems can be described in terms of conserved local pseudospins. Due to the multitude of ways to define these, the explicit identification of the optimally local pseudospins in specific systems is non-trivial. Given continuing intense interest in the role of disorder in strongly correlated systems, we consider the disordered Hubbard model. Focusing on a two-site system, we track the evolution of the optimally localized pseudospins as hopping and interactions are varied to move the system away from the trivially localized atomic…
The article reviews the physics of Anderson localization on random regular graphs (RRG) and its connections to many-body localization (MBL) in disordered interacting systems. Properties of eigenstate and energy level correlations in delocalized and localized phases, as well at criticality, are discussed. In the many-body part, models with short-range and power-law interactions are considered, as well as the quantum-dot model representing the limit of the "most long-range" interaction. Central themes -- which are common to the RRG and MBL problems -- include ergodicity of the delocalized phase,…
A Dyson hierarchical model for Anderson localization, containing non-random hierarchical hoppings and random on-site energies, has been studied in the mathematical literature since its introduction by Bovier [J. Stat. Phys. 59, 745 (1990)], with the conclusion that this model is always in the localized phase. Here we show that if one introduces alternating signs in the hoppings along the hierarchy (instead of choosing all hoppings of the same sign), it is possible to reach an Anderson localization critical point presenting multifractal eigenfunctions and intermediate spectral statistics. The a…
Paper reviews recent numerical data for the conductance distribution of disordered systems in the critical regime and in the localized regime. Of particular interest is the non-analytical form of the critical conductance distribution in the 3D and 4D systems, non-Gaussian form of the distribution of P(ln g) in localized 3D systems.
We demonstrate the presence of energy dependent fluctuations in the localization length, which depend on the disorder distribution. These fluctuations lead to Ensemble Averaged Conductance Fluctuations (EACF) and are enhanced by large disorder. For the binary distribution the fluctuations are strongly enhanced in comparison to the Gaussian and uniform distributions. These results have important implications on ensemble averaged quantities, such as the transmission through quantum wires, where fluctuations can subsist to very high temperatures. For the non-fluctuating part of the localization l…
We study the properties of the spinor wavefunction in a strongly disordered environment on a two-dimensional lattice. By employing a transfer-matrix calculation we find that there is a transition from delocalized to localized states at a critical value of the disorder strength. We prove that there exists an Anderson localized phase with exponentially decaying correlations for sufficiently strong scattering. Our results indicate that suppressed backscattering is not sufficient to prevent Anderson localization of surface states in topological insulators.
I discuss the properties of electron states in amorphous Si based on large scale calculations with realistic several thousand atom models. A relatively simple model for the localized to extended (Anderson) transition is reviewed. Then, the effect of thermal disorder on localized electron states is considered. It is found that under readily accessible conditions, localized (midgap or band tail) states and their conjugate energies may fluctuate dramatically. The possible importance of non-adiabatic atomic dynamics to doped or photo-excited systems is briefly discussed.
Distinguishing the dynamics of an Anderson insulator from a Many-Body Localized (MBL) phase is an experimentally challenging task. In this work, we propose a method based on machine learning techniques to analyze experimental snapshot data to separate the two phases. We show how to train $3D$ convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using space-time Fock-state snapshots, allowing us to obtain dynamic information about the system. We benchmark our method on a paradigmatic model showing MBL ($t-V$ model with quenched disorder), where we obtain a classification accuracy of $\approx 80 \%$ between an …
We consider the Anderson localization problem on the infinite regular tree. Within the localized phase, we derive a rigorous lower bound on the free energy function recently introduced by Aizenman and Warzel. Using a finite volume regularization, we also derive an upper bound on this free energy function. This yields upper and lower bounds on the critical disorder such that all states at a given energy become localized. These bounds are particularly useful in the large connectivity limit where they match, confirming the early predictions of Abou-Chacra, Anderson and Thouless.
Effects of electron correlations on Anderson insulators have been one of the central themes for recent two decades, suggesting that the Anderson insulating phase turns into a novel insulating state referred to as many body localization (MBL). However, the role of spin degrees of freedom in this dynamical phase transition still remains unclarified as a function of the interaction strength. In this study, we perform real-space spin-resolved Hartree-Fock-Anderson simulations to investigate metal-insulator transitions above a critical disorder strength in three spatial dimensions, where all single…
The quantum Coulomb glass model describes disordered interacting electrons on the insulating side of a metal-insulator transition. By taking quantum fluctuations into account it can describe not only the localized limit but also the weakly localized regime. We discuss several possibilities to generalize the concept of Anderson localization to interacting electron systems such as the quantum Coulomb glass and define criteria for localization. The corresponding physical quantities are calculated by numerically exact diagonalization. The results indicate that single-particle excitations close to …
The spatial extension and complexity of the eigenfunctions of an open finite-size two-dimensional (2D) random system are systematically studied for a random collection of systems ranging from weakly scattering to localized. The eigenfunctions are obtained by introducing gain in the medium and pumping just above threshold. All lasing modes are found to correspond to quasimodes of the passive system, for all regimes of propagation. We demonstrate the existence of multipeaked quasimodes or necklace states in 2D at the transition from localized to diffusive, resulting from the coupling of localize…
Thermalizing and localized many-body quantum systems present two distinct dynamical phases of matter. Recently, the fate of a localized system coupled to a thermalizing system viewed as a quantum bath received significant theoretical and experimental attention. In this work, we study a mobile impurity, representing a small quantum bath, that interacts locally with an Anderson insulator with a finite density of localized particles. Using static Hartree approximation to obtain an effective disorder strength, we formulate an analytic criterion for the perturbative stability of the localization. N…
The method proposed by the present authors to deal analytically with the problem of Anderson localization via disorder [J.Phys.: Condens. Matter {\bf 14} (2002) 13777] is generalized for higher spatial dimensions D. In this way the generalized Lyapunov exponents for diagonal correlators of the wave function, $<ψ^2_{n,\mathbf{m}}>$, can be calculated analytically and exactly. This permits to determine the phase diagram of the system. For all dimensions $D > 2$ one finds intervals in the energy and the disorder where extended and localized states coexist: the metal-insulator transition should th…
The physics of Anderson transitions between localized and metallic phases in disordered systems is reviewed. The term ``Anderson transition'' is understood in a broad sense, including both metal-insulator transitions and quantum-Hall-type transitions between phases with localized states. The emphasis is put on recent developments, which include: multifractality of critical wave functions, criticality in the power-law random banded matrix model, symmetry classification of disordered electronic systems, mechanisms of criticality in quasi-one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems and survey of …
We study numerically a spreading of an initially localized wave packet in a one-dimensional discrete nonlinear Schrödinger lattice with disorder. We demonstrate that above a certain critical strength of nonlinearity the Anderson localization is destroyed and an unlimited subdiffusive spreading of the field along the lattice occurs. The second moment grows with time $ \propto t^α$, with the exponent $α$ being in the range $0.3 - 0.4$. For small nonlinearities the distribution remains localized in a way similar to the linear case.
We predict the quantum correlations between non-interacting particles evolving simultaneously in a disordered medium. While the particle density follows the single-particle dynamics and exhibits Anderson localization, the two-particle correlation develops unique features that depend on the quantum statistics of the particles and their initial separation. On short time scales, the localization of one particle becomes dependent on whether the other particle is localized or not. On long time scales, the localized particles show oscillatory correlations within the localization length. These effect…
We present a numerical study of electromagnetic wave transport in disordered quasi-one-dimensional waveguides at terahertz frequencies. Finite element method calculations of terahertz wave propagation within LiNbO$_{3}$ waveguides with randomly arranged air-filled circular scatterers exhibit an onset of Anderson localization at experimentally accessible length scales. Results for the average transmission as a function of waveguide length and scatterer density demonstrate a clear crossover from diffusive to localized transport regime. In addition, we find that transmission fluctuations grow dra…
In a diffusive conductor the eigenstates are spread over the entire sample. However, with certain probability, an anomalously localized state (ALS) can occur, i.e. the wave function assumes anomalously large values in some region of space. Existing analytical theories of ALS are based on models described by a continuous (Gaussian) random potential. In the present paper we study ALS in a lattice (Anderson) model. We demonstrate that close to the center of the band, E=0, a new type of ALS exist and calculate analytically their likelihood. These ALS are lattice-specific and have no analog in the …
The method proposed by the present authors to deal analytically with the problem of Anderson localization via disorder [J.Phys.: Condens. Matter {\bf 14} (2002) 13777] is generalized for higher spatial dimensions D. In this way the generalized Lyapunov exponents for diagonal correlators of the wave function, $<ψ^2_{n,\mathbf{m}}>$, can be calculated analytically and exactly. This permits to determine the phase diagram of the system. For all dimensions $D > 2$ one finds intervals in the energy and the disorder where extended and localized states coexist: the metal-insulator transition should th…
This work is a generic advance in the study of delocalized (ergodic) to localized (non-ergodic) wave propagation phenomena in the presence of disorder. There is an urgent need to better understand the physics of extreme value process in the context of contemporary climate change. For earth system climate analysis General Circulation Model simulation sizes are rather small, 10 to 50 ensemble members due to computational burden while large ensembles are intrinsic to the study of Anderson localization. We merge universal transport approaches of Random Matrix Theory (RMT), described by the charact…
We introduce and study a two-dimensional dissipative nonlinear Anderson pumping model which is characterized by localized or delocalized eigenmodes in a linear regime and in addition includes nonlinearity, dissipation and pumping. We find that above a certain pumping threshold the model has narrow spectral lasing lines generated by isolated clusters of Anderson attractors. With the increase of the pumping, the lasing spectrum is broaden even if narrow lasing peaks are still well present in the localized phase of linear modes. In the metallic phase, the presence of narrow spectral peaks is sign…
We study a disordered nonlinear Schrödinger equation with an additional relaxation process having a finite response time $τ$. Without the relaxation term, $τ=0$, this model has been widely studied in the past and numerical simulations showed subdiffusive spreading of initially localized excitations. However, recently Caetano et al.\ (EPJ. B \textbf{80}, 2011) found that by introducing a response time $τ> 0$, spreading is suppressed and any initially localized excitation will remain localized. Here, we explain the lack of subdiffusive spreading for $τ>0$ by numerically analyzing the energy evol…
Anderson localization was discovered 50 years ago to describe the propagation of electrons in the presence of disorder. The main prediction back then, was the existence of disorder induced localized states, which do not conduct electricity. Many years later it turns out, that the concept of Anderson localization is much more general and applies to almost any type of propagation in time or space, when more than one parameter is relevant (like phase and amplitude). Here we propose a new optical scheme to literally see Anderson localization by varying the optical wavelength or angle of incidence …
In this paper we study the effect of positional randomness on transmissional properties of a two dimensional photonic crystal as a function of a randomness parameter $α$ ($α=0$ completely ordered, $α=1$ completely disordered). We use finite-difference time-domain~(FDTD) method to solve the Maxwell's equations in such a medium numerically. We consider two situations: first a $90\degr$ bent photonic crystal wave-guide and second a centrally pulsed photonic crystal micro-cavity. We plot various figures for each case which characterize the effect of randomness quantitatively. More specifically, in…
We numerically study the entanglement dynamics of free fermions on a cubic lattice with potential disorder following a quantum quench. We focus, in particular, on the metal-insulator transition at a critical disorder strength and compare the results to the putative many-body localization (MBL) transition in interacting one-dimensional systems. We find that at the transition point the entanglement entropy grows logarithmically with time $t$ while the number entropy grows $\sim\ln\ln t$. This is exactly the same scaling recently found in the MBL phase of the Heisenberg chain with random magnetic…
Experimental realization of the complete seven-phase Anderson-localization landscape
Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学物理系与量子功能材料国家重点实验室）；Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学深圳量子科学与工程研究院与广东省量子科学与工程重点实验室）
We study the Anderson transition on a generic model of random graphs with a tunable branching parameter $1<K\le 2$, through large scale numerical simulations and finite-size scaling analysis. We find that a single transition separates a localized phase from an unusual delocalized phase which is ergodic at large scales but strongly non-ergodic at smaller scales. In the critical regime, multifractal wavefunctions are located on few branches of the graph. Different scaling laws apply on both sides of the transition: a scaling with the linear size of the system on the localized side, and an unusua…
We consider d dimensional systems which are localized in the absence of interactions, but whose single particle (SP) localization length diverges near a discrete set of (single-particle) energies, with critical exponent ν. This class includes disordered systems with intrinsic- or symmetry-protected- topological bands, such as disordered integer quantum Hall insulators. In the absence of interactions, such marginally localized systems exhibit anomalous properties intermediate between localized and extended including: vanishing DC conductivity but sub-diffusive dynamics, and fractal entanglement…
Wave propagation in disordered media can be strongly modified by multiple scattering and wave interference. Ultimately the so-called Anderson-localized regime is reached when the waves become strongly confined in space. So far, Anderson localization of light has been probed in transmission experiments by measuring the intensity of an external light source after propagation through a disordered medium. However, discriminating between Anderson localization and losses in these experiments remains a major challenge. Here we present an alternative approach where we use quantum emitters embedded in …
In this paper we analyze the predictions of the forward approximation in some models which exhibit an Anderson (single-) or many-body localized phase. This approximation, which consists in summing over the amplitudes of only the shortest paths in the locator expansion, is known to over-estimate the critical value of the disorder which determines the onset of the localized phase. Nevertheless, the results provided by the approximation become more and more accurate as the local coordination (dimensionality) of the graph, defined by the hopping matrix, is made larger. In this sense, the forward a…
We experimentally study the effects of coupling one-dimensional Many-Body Localized (MBL) systems with identical disorder. Using a gas of ultracold fermions in an optical lattice, we artifically prepare an initial charge density wave in an array of 1D tubes with quasi-random onsite disorder and monitor the subsequent dynamics over several thousand tunneling times. We find a strikingly different behavior between MBL and Anderson Localization. While the non-interacting Anderson case remains localized, in the interacting case any coupling between the tubes leads to a delocalization of the entire …
It is well known that Anderson transition is a disorder-induced metal-insulator transition.Contrary to this conventional wisdom, some investigations have shown that disorders could destroy the phase coherence of localized modes in flatbands, making the localized states melt into extended states. This phenomenon is called the inverse Anderson transition. While, to date, the experimental observation of inverse Anderson transitions is still lacking. In this work, we report the implementation of inverse Anderson transitions based on Aharonov-Bohm topolectrical circuits. Different types of disorder…
