Existing theoretical works differ on whether three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl semimetals are stable to a short-range-correlated random potential. Numerical evidence suggests the semimetal to be unstable, while some field-theoretic instanton calculations have found it to be stable. The differences go beyond method: the continuum field-theoretic works use a single, perfectly linear Weyl cone, while numerical works use tight-binding lattice models which inherently have band curvature and multiple Weyl cones. In this work, we bridge this gap by performing exact numerics on the same model used in analytic treatments, and we find that all phenomena associated with rare regions near the Weyl node energy found in lattice models persist in the continuum theory: The density of states is non-zero and exhibits an avoided transition. In addition to characterizing this transition, we find rare states and show that they have the expected behavior. The simulations utilize sparse matrix techniques with formally dense matrices; doing so allows us to reach Hilbert space sizes upwards of $10^7$ states, substantially larger than anything achieved before.
Disorder in Weyl semimetals and superconductors is surprisingly subtle, attracting attention and competing theories in recent years. In this brief review, we discuss the current theoretical understanding of the effects of short-ranged, quenched disorder on the low energy-properties of three-dimensional, topological Weyl semimetals and superconductors. We focus on the role of non-perturbative rare region effects on destabilizing the semimetal phase and rounding the expected semimetal-to-diffusive metal transition into a cross over. Furthermore, the consequences of disorder on the resulting natu…
We numerically study the effect of short ranged potential disorder on massless noninteracting three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl fermions, with a focus on the question of the proposed quantum critical point separating the semimetal and diffusive metal phases. We determine the properties of the eigenstates of the disordered Dirac Hamiltonian ($H$) and exactly calculate the density of states (DOS) near zero energy, using a combination of Lanczos on $H^2$ and the kernel polynomial method on $H$. We establish the existence of two distinct types of low energy eigenstates contributing to the disordere…
We correct erroneous conclusions from Ref.[1] regarding the values of various critical exponents, calculated to the two-loop order, and argue that $ε$-expansion near two spatial dimension, with $ε=d-2$ may not be reliable to address the critical properties of disorder driven Dirac semimetal-metal quantum phase transition in $d=3$.
We investigate the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition of one-dimensional bosons with off-diagonal disorder by means of large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations. For weak disorder, we find the transition to be in the same universality class as the superfluid-Mott insulator transition of the clean system. The nature of the transition changes for stronger disorder. Beyond a critical disorder strength, we find nonuniversal, disorder-dependent critical behavior. We compare our results to recent perturbative and strong-disorder renormalization group predictions. We also discuss experimental im…
The quantum critical regime (QCR) of a two-dimensional (2D) disordered and a 2D clean dimerized spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg models are studied using the first principles nonperturbative quantum Monte Carlo simulations (QMC). In particular, the three well-known universal coefficients associated with QCR are investigated in detail. While in our investigation we find the obtained results are consistent with the related analytic predictions, non-negligible finite temperature ($T$) effects are observed. Such an influence from $T$ on the properties of the considered spin systems related to QCR has…
We study the effects of quenched disorder on the first-order phase transition in the two-dimensional three-color Ashkin-Teller model by means of large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that the first-order phase transition is rounded by the disorder and turns into a continuous one. Using a careful finite-size-scaling analysis, we provide strong evidence for the emerging critical behavior of the disordered Ashkin-Teller model to be in the clean two-dimensional Ising universality class, accompanied by universal logarithmic corrections. This agrees with perturbative renormalization-gr…
Strongly disordered superconducting films have been observed to undergo finite temperature transitions to a superinsulating state, of apparently infinite resistance, mirroring superconductivity. Approaching the transition, some of the films reportedly exhibit Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) criticality implying that superinsulation is associated with an ordered charge BKT phase. An even more singular Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) criticality has also been seen, positing the question of the existence of fundamentally different states of finite temperature insulators. Here we develop a theor…
In this paper, we explore quantum criticality in the disordered Aubry-André (AA) model. For the pure AA model, it is well-known that it hosts a critical point separating an extended phase and a localized insulator phase by tuning the strength of the quasiperiodic potential. Here we unearth that the disorder strength $Δ$ contributes an independent relevant direction near the critical point of the AA model. Our scaling analyses show that the localization length $ξ$ scales with $Δ$ as $ξ\proptoΔ^{-ν_Δ}$ with $ν_Δ$ a new critical exponent, which is estimated to be $ν_Δ\approx0.46$. This value is r…
We consider a two-dimensional Ising model with random i.i.d. nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic couplings and no external magnetic field. We show that, if the probability of supercritical couplings is small enough, the system admits a convergent cluster expansion with probability one. The associated polymers are defined on a sequence of increasing scales; in particular the convergence of the above expansion implies the infinite differentiability of the free energy but not its analyticity. The basic tools in the proof are a general theory of graded cluster expansions and a stochastic domination of …
We theoretically study the single particle Green function of a three dimensional disordered Weyl semimetal using a combination of techniques. These include analytic $T$-matrix and renormalization group methods with complementary regimes of validity, and an exact numerical approach based on the kernel polynomial technique. We show that at any nonzero disorder, Weyl excitations are not ballistic: they instead have a nonzero linewidth that for weak short-range disorder arises from non-perturbative resonant impurity scattering. Perturbative approaches find a quantum critical point between a semime…
The two-dimensional case occupies a special position in the theory of critical phenomena due to the exact results provided by lattice solutions and, directly in the continuum, by the infinite-dimensional character of the conformal algebra. However, some sectors of the theory, and most notably criticality in systems with quenched disorder and short range interactions, have appeared out of reach of exact methods and lacked the insight coming from analytical solutions. In this article we review recent progress achieved implementing conformal invariance within the particle description of field the…
Entanglement is a physical resource of a quantum system just like mass, charge or energy. Moreover it is an essential tool for many purposes of nowadays quantum information processing, e.g. quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography or quantum computation. In this work we investigate an extended system of N qubits. In our system a qubit is the absence or presence of an electron at a site of a tight-binding system. Several measures of entanglement between a given qubit and the rest of the system and also the entanglement between two qubits and the rest of the system is calculated in a one-elec…
Two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermions are a central paradigm of modern condensed matter physics, describing low-energy excitations in graphene, in certain classes of superconductors, and on surfaces of 3D topological insulators. At zero energy E=0, Dirac fermions with mass m are band insulators, with the Chern number jumping by unity at m=0. This observation lead Ludwig et al [Phys. Rev. B 50, 7526 (1994)] to conjecture that the transition in 2D disordered Dirac fermions (DDF) and the integer quantum Hall transition (IQHT) are controlled by the same fixed point and possess the same universal cri…
We present a large N solution of a microscopic model describing the Mott-Anderson transition on a finite-coordination Bethe lattice. Our results demonstrate that strong spatial fluctuations, due to Anderson localization effects, dramatically modify the quantum critical behavior near disordered Mott transitions. The leading critical behavior of quasiparticle wavefunctions is shown to assume a universal form in the full range from weak to strong disorder, in contrast to disorder-driven non-Fermi liquid ("electronic Griffiths phase") behavior, which is found only in the strongly correlated regime…
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.
It has been shown that changes in the energy of a system of nonwetting-liquid clusters confined in a random nanoporous medium in the process of relaxation can be written in the quasiparticle approximation in the form of the sum of the energies of local (metastable) configurations of liquid clusters interacting with clusters in the connected nearest pores. The energy spectrum and density of states of the local configuration have been calculated. It has been shown that the relaxation of the state of the system occurs through the scenario of self-organized criticality (SOC). The process is charac…
Three dimensional Dirac semimetals are stable against weak potential disorder, but not against strong disorder. In the language of renormalization group, such stability stems from the irrelevance of weak disorder in the vicinity of the noninteracting Gaussian fixed point. However, beyond a threshold, potential disorder can take Dirac semimetals into a compressible diffusive metallic phase through a quantum phase transition (QPT), where density of states at zero energy, quasiparticle lifetime and metallic conductivity at $T=0$, are finite. Universal behavior of such unconventional QPT is descri…
In contrast to finite dimensions where disordered systems display multifractal statistics only at criticality, the tree geometry induces multifractal statistics for disordered systems also off criticality. For the Anderson tight-binding localization model defined on a tree of branching ratio K=2 with $N$ generations, we consider the Miller-Derrida scattering geometry [J. Stat. Phys. 75, 357 (1994)], where an incoming wire is attached to the root of the tree, and where $K^{N}$ outcoming wires are attached to the leaves of the tree. In terms of the $K^{N}$ transmission amplitudes $t_j$, the tota…
We employ scaling arguments and optimal fluctuation theory to establish a general relation between quantum Griffiths singularities and the Harris criterion for quantum phase transitions in disordered systems. If a clean critical point violates the Harris criterion, it is destabilized by weak disorder. At the same time, the Griffiths dynamical exponent $z'$ diverges upon approaching the transition, suggesting unconventional critical behavior. In contrast, if the Harris criterion is fulfilled, power-law Griffiths singularities can coexist with clean critical behavior but $z'$ saturates at a fini…
The physics of Anderson transitions between localized and metallic phases in disordered systems is reviewed. We focus on the character of criticality as well as on underlying symmetries and topologies that are crucial for understanding phase diagrams and the critical behavior.
Quantum critical points in quasiperiodic magnets can realize new universality classes, with critical properties distinct from those of clean or disordered systems. Here, we study quantum phase transitions separating ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases in the quasiperiodic $q$-state Potts model in $2+1d$. Using a controlled real-space renormalization group approach, we find that the critical behavior is largely independent of $q$, and is controlled by an infinite-quasiperiodicity fixed point. The correlation length exponent is found to be $ν=1$, saturating a modified version of the Harris-Luc…
The S=1/2 Heisenberg model is considered on bilayer and single-layer square lattices with couplings J1, J2, and with each spin belonging to one J2-coupled dimer. A transition from a Neel to disordered ground state occurs at a critical value of g=J2/J1. The systems are here studied at their dimer-dilution percolation points p*. The multi-critical point (g*,p*) previously found for the bilayer is not reproduced for the single layer. Instead, there is line of critical points (g < g*,p*) with continuously varying exponents. The uniform magnetic susceptibility diverges as 1/T^a $ with a in the rang…
These lecture notes give a pedagogical introduction to phase transitions in disordered quantum systems and to the exotic Griffiths phases induced in their vicinity. We first review some fundamental concepts in the physics of phase transitions. We then derive criteria governing under what conditions spatial disorder or randomness can change the properties of a phase transition. After introducing the strong-disorder renormalization group method, we discuss in detail some of the exotic phenomena arising at phase transitions in disordered quantum systems. These include infinite-randomness critical…
Quasiperiodic systems are aperiodic but deterministic, so their critical behavior differs from that of clean systems as well as disordered ones. Quasiperiodic criticality was previously understood only in the special limit where the couplings follow discrete quasiperiodic sequences. Here we consider generic quasiperiodic modulations; we find, remarkably, that for a wide class of spin chains, generic quasiperiodic modulations flow to discrete sequences under a real-space renormalization group transformation. These discrete sequences are therefore fixed points of a \emph{functional} renormalizat…
We numerically investigate the growth of the entanglement entropy S_{ent}(t) in time t---after a global quench from a product state---in quantum chains with various kinds of disorder. The main focus is, in particular, on fermionic chains with bond disorder. In the noninteracting case at criticality we numerically test recent predictions by the real space renormalization group for the entanglement growth in time, the maximal entanglement as a function of block size, and the decay of a density wave order parameter. We show that multiprecision calculations are required to reach the scaling regime…
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 …
Stability of the symmetry-protected topological phase and Ising transitions in a disordered U(1) quantum link model on a ladder
Instytut Fizyki Teoretycznej, Uniwersytet Jagielloński（雅盖隆大学理论物理研究所）；Instituto de Fisica Fundamental IFF-CSIC（西班牙高等科学研究理事会基础物理研究所）；Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO)（光子科学研究所）；Mark Kac Complex Systems Research Center, Uniwersytet Jagielloński（雅盖隆大学马克·卡克复杂系统研究中心）；Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras（马德拉斯印度理工学院物理系）；Center for Quantum Information, Communication and Computation (CQuICC), Indian Institute of Technology Madras（马德拉斯印度理工学院量子信息、通信与计算中心）
According to recent progresses in the finite size scaling theory of disordered systems, thermodynamic observables are not self-averaging at critical points when the disorder is relevant in the Harris criterion sense. This lack of self-averageness at criticality is directly related to the distribution of pseudo-critical temperatures $T_c(i,L)$ over the ensemble of samples $(i)$ of size $L$. In this paper, we apply this analysis to disordered Poland-Scheraga models with different loop exponents $c$,corresponding to marginal and relevant disorder. In all cases, we numerically obtain a Gaussian hi…
This paper considers the distribution of charge over the surface of a conductor, and specifically the old rule-of-thumb that charge accumulates near sharp points and more generally in regions of high curvature. The discussion is almost entirely qualitative. Various conductors with different geometric shapes have been considered and the charge density on their points has been compared. Our discussion shows that the statement "surface charge density is higher at points with greater curvature" does not seem to be true and at least it can be modified. We have avoided unnecessary relationships as m…
In this thesis we investigate the Renormalization Group (RG) approach in finite-dimensional glassy systems, whose critical features are still not well-established, or simply unknown. We focus on spin and structural-glass models built on hierarchical lattices, which are the simplest non-mean-field systems where the RG framework emerges in a natural way. The resulting critical properties shed light on the critical behavior of spin and structural glasses beyond mean field, and suggest future directions for understanding the criticality of more realistic glassy systems.
We consider a new class of unconventional critical phenomena that is characterized by singularities only in dynamical quantities and has no thermodynamic signatures. A possible example is the recently proposed many-body localization transition, in which transport coefficients vanish at a critical temperature. Describing this unconventional quantum criticality has been technically challenging as understanding the finite-temperature dynamics requires the knowledge of a large number of many-body eigenstates. Here we develop a real-space renormalization group method for excited state (RSRG-X), tha…
We study the stability of three-dimensional incompressible Weyl semimetals in the presence of random quenched charge impurities. Combining numerical analysis and scaling theory we show that in the presence of sufficiently weak randomness (i) Weyl semimetal remains stable, while (ii) double-Weyl semimetal gives rise to compressible diffusive metal where the mean density of states at zero energy is finite. At stronger disorder, Weyl semimetal undergoes a quantum phase transition and enter into a metallic phase. Mean density of states at zero energy serves as the order parameter and displays sing…
We investigate the possibility of an Anderson type transition in the quantum kicked rotor with a smooth potential due to dynamical localization of the wavefunctions. Our results show the typical characteristics of a critical behavior i.e multifractal eigenfunctions and a scale-invariant level-statistics at a critical kicking strength which classically corresponds to a mixed regime. This indicates the existence of a localization to delocalization transition in the quantum kicked rotor. Our study also reveals the possibility of other type of transitions in the quantum kicked rotor, with a kickin…
Power law distributed fluctuations are known to accompany \emph{terminal} failure in disordered brittle solids. The associated intermittent scale-free behavior is of interest from the fundamental point of view as it emerges universally from an intricate interplay of threshold-type nonlinearity, quenched disorder, and long-range interactions. We use the simplest mean-field description of such systems to show that they can be expected to undergo a transition between brittle and quasi-brittle (ductile) responses. While the former is characterized by a power law distribution of avalanches, in the …
The average density of states in a disordered three-dimensional Weyl system is discussed in the case of a continuous distribution of random scattering. Our result clearly indicate that the average density of states does not vanish, reflecting the absence of a critical point for a metal-insulator transition. This calculation supports recent suggestions of an avoided quantum critical point in the disordered three-dimensional Weyl semimetal. However, the effective density of states can be very small such that the saddle-approximation with a vanishing density of states might be valid for practical…
We introduce an approach to derive an effective scalar field theory for the glass transition; the fluctuating field is the overlap between equilibrium configurations. We apply it to the case of constrained liquids for which the introduction of a conjugate source to the overlap field was predicted to lead to an equilibrium critical point. We show that the long-distance physics in the vicinity of this critical point is in the same universality class as that of a paradigmatic disordered model: the random-field Ising model. The quenched disorder is provided here by a reference equilibrium liquid c…
We present a controlled rare-weak-link theory of the superfluid-to-Bose/Mott glass transition in one-dimensional disordered systems. The transition has Kosterlitz-Thouless critical properties but may occur at an arbitrary large value of the Luttinger parameter $K$. In contrast to the scenario by Altman {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 81}, 174528 (2010)], the hydrodynamic description is valid under the correlation radius and defines criticality via the renormalization of microscopically weak links, along the lines of Kane and Fisher [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 68}, 1220 (1992)]. The hallmark of the …
The quantum kicked rotor (QKR) driven by $d$ incommensurate frequencies realizes the universality class of $d$-dimensional disordered metals. For $d>3$, the system exhibits an Anderson metal-insulator transition which has been observed within the framework of an atom optics realization. However, the absence of genuine randomness in the QKR reflects in critical phenomena beyond those of the Anderson universality class. Specifically, the system shows strong sensitivity to the algebraic properties of its effective Planck constant $\tilde h \equiv 4π/q$. For integer $q$, the system may be in a glo…
The random Lorentz gas (RLG) is a minimal model for transport in disordered media. Despite the broad relevance of the model, theoretical grasp over its properties remains weak. For instance, the scaling with dimension d of its localization transition at the void percolation threshold is not well controlled analytically nor computationally. A recent study [Biroli et al. Phys. Rev. E L030104 (2021)] of the caging behavior of the RLG motivated by the mean-field theory of glasses has uncovered physical inconsistencies in that scaling that heighten the need for guidance. Here, we first extend analy…
Using the non-commutative Kubo formula for aperiodic solids [1-3] and a recently developed numerical implementation [4], we study the conductivity $σ$ and resistivity $ρ$ tensors as functions of Fermi level and temperature, for models of strongly disordered Chern insulators. The formalism enabled us to converge the transport coefficients at temperatures low enough to enter the quantum critical regime at the Chern-to-trivial insulator transition. We find that the $ρ_{xx}$-curves at different temperatures intersect each other at one single critical point, and that they obey a single-parameter sc…
We show that in the regime when strong disorder is more relevant than field quantization the superfluid--to--Bose-glass criticality of one-dimensional bosons is preceded by the prolonged logarithmically slow classical-field renormalization flow of the superfluid stiffness at mesoscopic scales. With the system compressibility remaining constant, the quantum nature of the system manifests itself only in the renormalization of dilute weak links. On the insulating side, the flow ultimately reaches a value of the Luttinger parameter at which the instanton--anti-instanton pairs start to proliferate,…
For the quantum Ising model with ferromagnetic random couplings $J_{i,j}>0$ and random transverse fields $h_i>0$ at zero temperature in finite dimensions $d>1$, we consider the lowest-order contributions in perturbation theory in $(J_{i,j}/h_i)$ to obtain some information on the statistics of various observables in the disordered phase. We find that the two-point correlation scales as : $\ln C(r) \sim - \frac{r}{ξ_{typ}} +r^ω u$, where $ξ_{typ} $ is the typical correlation length, $u$ is a random variable, and $ω$ coincides with the droplet exponent $ω_{DP}(D=d-1)$ of the Directed Polymer with…
The anomalous Floquet Anderson insulator (AFAI) is a two dimensional periodically driven system in which static disorder stabilizes two topologically distinct phases in the thermodynamic limit. The presence of a unit-conducting chiral edge mode and the essential role of disorder induced localization are reminiscent of the integer quantum Hall (IQH) effect. At the same time, chirality in the AFAI is introduced via an orchestrated driving protocol, there is no magnetic field, no energy conservation, and no (Landau level) band structure. In this paper we show that in spite of these differences th…
Why life persists at the edge of chaos is a question at the very heart of evolution. Here we show that molecules taking part in biochemical processes from small molecules to proteins are critical quantum mechanically. Electronic Hamiltonians of biomolecules are tuned exactly to the critical point of the metal-insulator transition separating the Anderson localized insulator phase from the conducting disordered metal phase. Using tools from Random Matrix Theory we confirm that the energy level statistics of these biomolecules show the universal transitional distribution of the metal-insulator cr…
Mathematical Institute, Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学数学研究所）
The numerical emulation of quantum systems often requires an exponential number of degrees of freedom which translates to a computational bottleneck. Methods of machine learning have been used in adjacent fields for effective feature extraction and dimensionality reduction of high-dimensional datasets. Recent studies have revealed that neural networks are further suitable for the determination of macroscopic phases of matter and associated phase transitions as well as efficient quantum state representation. In this work, we address quantum phase transitions in quantum spin chains, namely the t…
