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arXiv:0804.4887 · Semiconductors

Relaxation processes in a disordered Luttinger liquid

Д. А. Багрец, I. V. Gornyi, A. D. Mirlin, Dmitry G. Polyakov

Published Aug 1, 2008• 16 citations
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Abstract

The Luttinger liquid model, which describes interacting electrons in a single-channel quantum wire, is completely integrable in the absence of disorder and as such does not exhibit any relaxation to equilibrium. We consider relaxation processes induced by inelastic electron-electron interactions in a disordered Luttinger liquid, focusing on the equilibration rate and its essential differences from the electron-electron scattering rate as well as the rate of phase relaxation. In the first part of the paper, we review the basic concepts in a disordered Luttinger liquid at equilibrium. These include the elastic renormalization, dephasing, and interference-induced localization. In the second part, we formulate a conceptually important framework for systematically studying the nonequilibrium properties of a strongly correlated (non-Fermi) Luttinger liquid. We derive a coupled set of kinetic equations for the fermionic and bosonic distribution functions that describe the evolution of a nonequilibrium Luttinger liquid. Remarkably, the energy equilibration rate in the conducting disordered quantum wire (at sufficiently high temperature, when the localization effects are suppressed by dephasing) is shown to be on the order of the rate of elastic scattering off disorder, independent of the interaction constant and temperature.

DOI
10.1134/s1063782608080204

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We develop a kinetic theory for strongly correlated disordered one-dimensional electron systems out of equilibrium within the Luttinger liquid model. In the absence of inhomogeneities, the model exhibits no relaxation to equilibrium. We derive kinetic equations for electron and plasmon distribution functions in the presence of impurities and calculate the equilibration rate ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{E}$. Remarkably, for not too low temperature and bias voltage, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{E}$ is given by the elastic backscattering rate $\ensuremath{\gamma}$: the ratio ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{E}/\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\sim}1$ is independent of the strength of electron-electron interaction, temperature, and bias.
We study the transport properties of interacting electrons in a disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger liquid model. The conductivity at finite temperature is nonzero only because of inelastic electron-electron scattering. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization is applicable to the strongly correlated one-dimensional electron system. We calculate the relevant dephasing rate, which for spinless electrons is governed by the interplay of electron-electron interaction and disorder, thus vanishing in the clean limit.
We study the influence of spin on the quantum interference of interacting electrons in a single-channel disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger liquid (LL) model. The nature of the electron interference in a spinful LL is particularly nontrivial because the elementary bosonic excitations that carry charge and spin propagate with different velocities. We extend the functional-bosonization approach to treat the fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom in a disordered spinful LL on an equal footing. We analyze the effect of spin-charge separation at finite temperature both on the spectral properties of single-particle fermionic excitations and on the conductivity of a disordered quantum wire. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization, related to the interference of multiple-scattered electron waves and their decoherence due to electron-electron scattering, remains applicable to the spin-charge separated system. The relevant dephasing length, governed by the interplay of inelastic electron-electron interactions and spin-charge separation, is found to be parametrically shorter than in a spinless LL. We calculate both the quantum (weak localization) and classical (memory effect) corrections to the conductivity of a disordered spinful LL. The classical correction is shown to dominate in the limit of high temperature.
We study the transport properties of interacting electrons in a disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger-liquid model. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization is applicable to the strongly correlated one-dimensional electron system. Two alternative approaches to the problem are developed, both combining fermionic and bosonic treatment of the underlying physics. We calculate the relevant dephasing rate, which for spinless electrons is governed by the interplay of electron-electron interaction and disorder, thus vanishing in the clean limit. Our approach provides a framework for a systematic study of mesoscopic effects in strongly correlated electron systems.
We develop a theory of tunneling spectroscopy of interacting electrons in a nonequilibrium quantum wire coupled to reservoirs. The problem is modeled as an out-of-equilibrium Luttinger liquid with spatially dependent interaction. The interaction leads to the renormalization of the tunneling density of states, as well as to the redistribution of electrons over energies. Energy relaxation is controlled by plasmon scattering at the boundaries between regions with different interaction strengths and affects the distribution function of electrons in the wire as well as that of electrons emitted from the interacting regions into noninteracting electrodes.