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arXiv:1502.07778 · Physical Review Letters

Anderson Localization and the Quantum Phase Diagram of Three Dimensional Disordered Dirac Semimetals

J. H. Pixley, Pallab Goswami, S. Das Sarma

Published Aug 11, 2015• 131 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the quantum phase diagram of a three dimensional noninteracting Dirac semimetal in the presence of either quenched axial or scalar potential disorder, by calculating the average and the typical density of states as well as the inverse participation ratio using numerically exact methods. We show that as a function of the disorder strength a half-filled (i.e., undoped) Dirac semimetal displays three distinct ground states, namely an incompressible semimetal, a compressible diffusive metal, and a localized Anderson insulator, in stark contrast to a conventional dirty metal that only supports the latter two phases. We establish the existence of two distinct quantum critical points, which respectively govern the semimetal-metal and the metal-insulator quantum phase transitions and also reveal their underlying multifractal nature. Away from half-filling the (doped) system behaves as a diffusive metal that can undergo Anderson localization only, which is shown by determining the mobility edge and the phase diagram in terms of energy and disorder.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.115.076601

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We study the quantum phase diagram of a three dimensional noninteracting Dirac semimetal in the presence of either quenched axial or scalar potential disorder, by calculating the average and the typical density of states as well as the inverse participation ratio using numerically exact methods. We show that as a function of the disorder strength a half-filled (i.e., undoped) Dirac semimetal displays three distinct ground states, namely an incompressible semimetal, a compressible diffusive metal, and a localized Anderson insulator, in stark contrast to a conventional dirty metal that only supports the latter two phases. We establish the existence of two distinct quantum critical points, which respectively govern the semimetal-metal and the metal-insulator quantum phase transitions and also reveal their underlying multifractal nature. Away from half-filling the (doped) system behaves as a diffusive metal that can undergo Anderson localization only, which is shown by determining the mobility edge and the phase diagram in terms of energy and disorder.
The quantum phase transition between the three dimensional Dirac semimetal and the diffusive metal can be induced by increasing disorder. Taking the system of a disordered Z2 topological insulator as an important example, we compute the single particle density of states by the kernel polynomial method. We focus on three regions: the Dirac semimetal at the phase boundary between two topologically distinct phases, the tricritical point of the two topological insulator phases and the diffusive metal, and the diffusive metal lying at strong disorder. The density of states obeys a novel single parameter scaling, collapsing onto two branches of a universal scaling function, which correspond to the Dirac semimetal and the diffusive metal. The diverging length scale critical exponent ν and the dynamical critical exponent z are estimated, and found to differ significantly from those for the conventional Anderson transition. Critical behavior of experimentally observable quantities near and at the tricritical point is also discussed.
A Weyl semimetal is a three-dimensional topological gapless phase. In the presence of strong enough disorder it undergoes a quantum transition towards a diffusive metal phase whose universality class depends on the range of disorder correlations. Similar to other quantum transitions driven by disorder, the critical wave functions at the semimetal--diffusive-metal transition exhibit multifractality. Using renormalization group methods we study the corresponding multifractal spectrum as a function of the range of disorder correlations for generic disorder including random scalar and vector potentials. We also discuss the relation between the geometric fluctuations of critical wave functions and the broad distribution of the local density of states (DOS) at the transition. We derive a new scaling relation for the typical local DOS and argue that it holds for other disorder-driven transitions in which both the average and typical local DOS vanish on one side of the transition. As an illustration we apply it to the recently discussed unconventional quantum transition in disordered semiconductors with power-law dispersion relation near the band edge.
Weyl or Dirac fermions with the iconic linear energy-momentum relation and average density of states (ADOS) ρ(E)∼∣E∣d−1ρ(E) \sim |E|^{d-1}ρ(E)∼∣E∣d−1 at energy EEE in ddd spatial dimensions, constitute a unique setup to study the disorder-driven semimetal-to-metal quantum phase transition (QPT) between ballistic (realized for weak disorder) and diffusive (stabilized at stronger disorder) quasiparticles. Such a QPT takes place only for d>2d>2d>2 and falls beyond the realm of the Anderson metal-to-insulator transition. From numerically computed ADOS (using the kernel polynomial method) in dirty Weyl systems in d=2d=2d=2 to 666, here we show that d=2d=2d=2 and d=4d=4d=4 are the lower (dℓd_\elldℓ​) and upper (dud_udu​) critical dimensions for such an unconventional QPT, respectively, as suggested from the solution of quasiparticle lifetime within the self-consistent Born approximation. Consequently, for d≥4d \geq 4d≥4 the associated correlation length exponent is found to be ν≈0.5ν\approx 0.5ν≈0.5 (within numerical accuracy). However, the dynamic scaling exponent at the quantum critical point is pinned close to z≈d/2z \approx d/2z≈d/2 (numerically) for any d≥3d \geq 3d≥3, which is shown to be an exact result from a field-theoretic renormalization group calculation. Therefore, Weyl semimetal-to-metal QPTs can be studied field theoretically around both dℓd_\elldℓ​ and dud_udu​.
We study a non-Anderson disorder driven quantum phase transition in a semi-infinite Dirac semimetal with a flat boundary. The conformally invariant boundary conditions, which include those that are time-reversal invariant, lead to nodal-like surface states on the boundary. In this case the boundary becomes metallic at a critical disorder that is weaker than that for the semimetal-diffusive metal transition in the bulk. The latter transition takes place in the presence of a metallic surface; in the language of surface critical phenomena this corresponds to the so-called extraordinary transition. The lines of the surface and the extraordinary transitions meet at the special transition point. To elucidate universal properties at different transitions on the phase diagram, we employ renormalization group methods and compute the corresponding surface critical exponents using $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$ expansion.
Progress in the understanding of quantum critical properties of itinerant electrons has been hindered by the lack of effective models which are amenable to controlled analytical and numerically exact calculations. Here we establish that the disorder-driven semimetal to metal quantum phase transition of three-dimensional massless Dirac fermions could serve as a paradigmatic toy model for studying itinerant quantum criticality, which is solved in this work by exact numerical and approximate field-theoretic calculations. As a result, we establish the robust existence of a non-Gaussian universality class, and also construct the relevant low-energy effective field theory that could guide the understanding of quantum critical scaling for many strange metals. Using the kernel polynomial method (KPM), we provide numerical results for the calculated dynamical exponent (zzz) and correlation length exponent ($\ensuremath{\nu}$) for the disorder-driven semimetal (SM) to diffusive metal (DM) quantum phase transition at the Dirac point for several types of disorder, establishing its universal nature and obtaining the numerical scaling functions in agreement with our field-theoretical analysis.
Abstract We consider Anderson localization in the half-filled Anderson–Hubbard model in the presence of either random on-site interactions or spatially alternating interactions in the lattice. By using dynamical mean field theory with the equation of motion method as an impurity solver, we calculate the arithmetically and geometrically averaged local density of states and derive the equations determining the critical value for the phase transition between metallic, Anderson and Mott insulating phases. The nonmagnetic ground state phase diagrams are constructed numerically. We figure out that the presence of Coulomb disorder drives the system toward the Anderson localized phase that can occur even in the absence of Anderson structural disorder. For the spatially alternating interactions, we find that the metallic region is reduced and the Anderson insulator one is enlarged with increasing interaction modulation. Our obtained results are relevant to current research in ultracold atoms in disordered optical lattices where metal–insulator transition can be observed experimentally by using ultracold atom techniques.