The transition between many-body localized states and the delocalized thermal states is an eigen-state phase transition at finite energy density outside the scope of conventional quantum statistical mechanics. In this work we investigate the properties of the transition by studying the behavior of the entanglement entropy of a subsystem of size $L_A$ in a system of size $L > L_A$ near the critical regime of the many-body localization transition. The many-body eigenstates are obtained by exact diagonalization of a disordered quantum spin chain under twisted boundary conditions to reduce the finite-size effect. We present a scaling theory based on the assumption that the transition is continuous and use the subsystem size $L_A /ξ$ as the scaling variable, where $ξ$ is the correlation length. We show that this scaling theory provides an effective description of the critical behavior and that the entanglement entropy follows the thermal volume law at the transition point. We extract the critical exponent governing the divergence of $ξ$ upon approaching the transition point. We also study the participation entropy in the spin-basis of the domain wall excitations and show that the transition point and the critical exponent agree with those obtained from finite size scaling of the entanglement entropy. Our findings suggest that the many-body localization transition in this model is continuous and describable as a localization transition in the many-body configuration space.
We test the usefulness of a generalized inverse participation ratio (GIPR) as a measure of Anderson localization. The GIPR differs from the usual inverse participation ratio in that it depends on the local density of states rather than on the single-electron wavefunctions. This makes it suitable for application to many-body systems. We benchmark the GIPR by performing a finite-size scaling analysis of a disordered, noninteracting, three-dimensional tight-binding lattice. We find values for the critical disorder and critical exponents that are in agreement with published values.
This chapter addresses the question of quantum entanglement in disordered chains, focusing on the von-Neumann and Rényi entropies for three important classes of random systems: Anderson localized, infinite randomness criticality, and many-body localization (MBL). We review previous works, and also present new results for the entanglement entropy of random spin chains at low and high energy.
After Anderson's prediction of disorder-induced insulating behavior, extensive work found no singularities in the density of states of localized systems. However, Johri and Bhatt recently uncovered the existence of a non-analyticity in the density of states near the band edge of non-interacting systems with bounded disorder, in an energy range outside that captured by previous work. Moreover, this feature marks the boundary of an energy range in which the localization is sharply suppressed. Given strong current interest in the effect of interactions on disordered systems, we explore here the e…
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 properties of the entanglement entropy (EE) in one-dimensional disordered interacting systems are studied. Anderson localization leaves a clear signature on the average EE, as it saturates on length scale exceeding the localization length. This is verified by numerically calculating the EE for an ensemble of disordered realizations using density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). A heuristic expression describing the dependence of the EE on the localization length, which takes into account finite size effects, is proposed. This is used to extract the localization length as function of th…
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 investigate the role of localization effects in the Kondo disorder mechanism for non-Fermi liquid behavior in disordered Kondo lattices. We find that the distribution of Kondo temperatures is strongly affected by fluctuations of the conduction electron density of states, a feature neglected in the previous treatment. For moderate disorder, the self-consistent distribution of Kondo temperatures flows to a universal log-normal form, irrespective of the form of the bare disorder distribution. For sufficient disorder, the system enters a Griffiths phase with diverging thermodynamic responses.
We investigate the field-induced insulator-to-superfluid transition of bosonic quasiparticles in $S=1/2$ weakly-coupled dimer antiferromagnets. In presence of realistic disorder due to site dilution of the magnetic lattice, we show that the system displays an extended Bose-glass phase characterized by the localization of the hard-core quasiparticles.
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 entanglement and localization in eigenstates of strongly chaotic subsystems are studied as a function of their interaction strength. Excellent measures for this purpose are the von-Neumann entropy, Havrda-Charv{\' a}t-Tsallis entropies, and the averaged inverse participation ratio. All the entropies are shown to follow a remarkably simple exponential form, which describes a universal and rapid transition to nearly maximal entanglement for increasing interaction strength. An unexpectedly exact relationship between the subsystem averaged inverse participation ratio and purity is derived that…
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…
We study ground state and finite temperature properties of disordered heavy fermion metals by using a generalization of dynamical mean field theory which incorporates Anderson localization effects. The emergence of a non-Fermi liquid metallic behavior even at moderate disorder is shown to be a universal phenomenon resulting from local density of states fluctuations. This behavior is found to have a character of an electronic Griffiths phase, and can be thought of as a precursor of Anderson localization in a strongly correlated host. The temperature dependence of the conducting properties of th…
The Friedel oscillations caused due to an impurity located at one edge of a disordered interacting quantum wire are calculated numerically. The electron density in the system's ground state is determined using the DMRG method, and the Friedel oscillations data is extracted using the density difference between the case in which the wire is coupled to an impurity and the case where the impurity is uncoupled. We show that the power law decay of the oscillations occurring for an interacting clean 1D samples described by Luttinger liquid theory, is multiplied by an exponential decay term due to the…
Using dc transport and wide-band spectroscopic ellipsometry techniques we study localization phenomena in highly disordered metallic β-Ta films grown by rf sputtering deposition. The dc transport study implies non-metallic behavior (dr/dT<0), with negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR). We found that as the absolute TCR value increased, specifying an elevated degree of disorder, the free charge carrier Drude response decreases, indicating the enhanced charge carrier localization. Moreover, we found that the pronounced changes occur at the extended spectral range, involving not o…
We present numerical results within the one-dimensional disordered Hubbard model for several characteristic indicators of the many-body localization (MBL). Considering traditionally studied charge disorder (i.e., the same disorder strength for both spin orientations) we find that even at strong disorder all signatures consistently show that while charge degree of freedom is non-ergodic, the spin is delocalized and ergodic. This indicates the absence of the full MBL in the model that has been simulated in recent cold-atom experiments. Full localization can be restored if spin-dependent disorder…
We study the quantum thermalization and information scrambling dynamics of an experimentally realizable quantum spin model with homogeneous XX-type all-to-all interactions and random local potentials. We identify the thermalization-localization transition by changing the disorder strength, under a proper all-to-all interaction strength. The scrambling dynamics in the localization phase shows novel behaviors distinct from that of local models. The operator scrambling grows almost equally fast in both phases. In the thermal phase, we show there exhibits fast scrambling without appealing to the s…
In a recent Letter Balatsky and Salkola made their conclusion about the absence of localization in disordered d-wave superconductors exploiting the idea that strongly overlapping impurity states formed a network capable to provide the transport. We present here the correct estimate of hopping matrix elements between two impurities which were the basic quantities for the subsequent consideration in the abovementioned Letter. We conclude, that the picture of the impurity-impurity potential acting only within the slowly broadening tails claimed by Balatsky and Salkola as well as all the physical …
Many-body localization occurs in isolated quantum systems when Anderson localization persists in the presence of finite interactions. Despite strong evidence for the existence of a many-body localization transition a reliable extraction of the critical disorder strength is difficult due to a large drift with system size in the studied quantities. In this work we explore two entanglement properties that are promising for the study of the manybody localization transition: the variance of the half-chain entanglement entropy of exact eigenstates and the long time change in entanglement after a loc…
While many-body localization has primarily been studied in systems with a single local degree of freedom, experimental studies of many-body localization in cold atom systems motivate exploration of the disordered Hubbard model. With two coupled local degrees of freedom it is natural to ask how localization in spin relates to disorder in charge and vice versa. Most prior work has addressed disorder in only one of these sectors and often has not used measures of localization which distinguish between charge and spin. Here we explore localization in the Hubbard model with a wide range of independ…
The metallic or insulating nature of the paramagnetic phase of the colossal-magnetoresistance manganites is investigated via a double exchange Hamiltonian with diagonal disorder. Mobility edge trajectory is determined with the transfer matrix method. Density of states calculations indicate that random hopping alone is not sufficient to induce Anderson localization at the Fermi level with 20-30% doping. We argue that the metal-insulator transtion is likely due to the formation of localized polarons from nonuniform extended states as the effective band width is reduced by random hoppings and ele…
We uncover a novel mechanism for inducing a gapful phase in interacting many-body quantum chains. The mechanism is nonperturbative, being triggered only in the presence of both strong interactions and strong aperiodic (disordered) modulation. In the context of the critical antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 XXZ chain, we identify an emerging dimerization which removes the system from criticality and stabilizes the novel phase. This mechanism is shown to be quite general in strongly interacting quantum chains in the presence of strongly modulated quasiperiodic disorder which is, surprisingly, perturbat…
