Our general interest is in self-consistent-field (scf) theories of disordered fermions. They generate physically relevant subensembles (``scf ensembles'') within a given Altland-Zirnbauer class. We are motivated to investigate such ensembles (i) by the possibility to discover new fixed points due to (long-range) interactions; (ii) by analytical scf theories that rely on partial self-consistency approximations awaiting a numerical validation; and (iii) by the overall importance of scf theories for the understanding of complex interaction-mediated phenomena in terms of effective single-particle pictures. In this paper we present an efficient, parallelized implementation solving scf problems with spatially local fields by applying a kernel-polynomial approach. Our first application is the Boguliubov-deGennes theory of the attractive-$U$ Hubbard model in the presence of on-site disorder; the sc fields are the particle density $n(\mathbf{r})$ and the gap function $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}(\mathbf{r})$. For this case, we reach system sizes unprecedented in earlier work. They allow us to study phenomena emerging at scales substantially larger than the lattice constant, such as the interplay of multifractality and interactions or the formation of superconducting islands. For example, we observe that the coherence length exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior with increasing disorder strength already at moderate $U$. With respect to methodology our results are important because we establish that partial self-consistency (``energy-only'') schemes as typically employed in analytical approaches tend to miss qualitative physics such as island formation.
Our general interest is in self-consistent-field (scf) theories of disordered fermions. They generate physically relevant subensembles (scf ensembles'') within a given Altland-Zirnbauer class. We are motivated to investigate such ensembles (i) by the possibility to discover new fixed points due to (long-range) interactions; (ii) by analytical scf theories that rely on partial self-consistency approximations awaiting a numerical validation; and (iii) by the overall importance of scf theories for the understanding of complex interaction-mediated phenomena in terms of effective single-particle pictures. In this paper we present an efficient, parallelized implementation solving scf problems with spatially local fields by applying a kernel-polynomial approach. Our first application is the Boguliubov-deGennes theory of the attractive-$U$ Hubbard model in the presence of on-site disorder; the sc fields are the particle density $n(\mathbf{r})$ and the gap function $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}(\mathbf{r})$. For this case, we reach system sizes unprecedented in earlier work. They allow us to study phenomena emerging at scales substantially larger than the lattice constant, such as the interplay of multifractality and interactions or the formation of superconducting islands. For example, we observe that the coherence length exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior with increasing disorder strength already at moderate $U$. With respect to methodology our results are important because we establish that partial self-consistency (energy-only'') schemes as typically employed in analytical approaches tend to miss qualitative physics such as island formation.
Motivated by the experimental observations of the anomalous metal states in many superconducting thin films systems, this thesis studies the interplay of disorder and interactions in superconductivity. We first demonstrate that the Fermi glass ground state is unstable in first-order perturbation theory under weak, short-ranged interaction, provided all states are localized. This finding elucidates why methods like the Hartree-Fock approximation are adequate to explain local moment formation in repulsive interactions. We then revisit the problem of dirty superconductors using a replica-symmetric BCS (RS-BCS) theory. We apply RS-BCS theory to disordered superconducting grains within the localization length, assuming the macroscopic system consists of weakly coupled grains. Besides disordered potential, We also consider regions with opposite signs of interaction exist in the grains, with net attractive interaction between electrons. Using RS-BCS mean field theory, we compute the phase diagram, tunneling density of states, and superfluid density across disorder strengths. Our results qualitatively agree with prior numerical studies for purely attractive interactions, and suggest a possible Cooper-pair-glass state when interactions of opposite signs nearly cancel.
We study the interplay of disorder localization and strong local interactions within the Anderson-Hubbard model. Taking into account local Mott-Hubbard physics and static screening of the disorder potential, the system is mapped onto an effective single-particle Anderson model, which is studied within the self-consistent theory of electron localization. For fermions, we find rich nonmonotonic behavior of the localization length ξ, particularly in two-dimensional systems, including an interaction-induced exponential enhancement of ξ for small and intermediate disorders and a strong reduction of ξ due to hopping suppression by strong interactions. In three dimensions, we identify for half filling a Mott-Hubbard-assisted Anderson localized phase existing between the metallic and the Mott-Hubbardgapped phases. For small U there is re-entrant behavior from the Anderson localized phase to the metallic phase. For bosons, the unrestricted particle occupation number per lattice site yields a monotonic enhancement of ξ as a function of decreasing interaction, which we assume to persist until the superfluid Bose- Einstein condensate phase is entered. Besides, we study cold atomic gases expanding, by a diffusion process, in a weak random potential. We show that the density-density correlation function of the expanding gas is strongly affected by disorder and we estimate the typical size of a speckle spot, i.e., a region of enhanced or depleted density. Both a Fermi gas and a Bose-Einstein condensate (in a mean-field approach) are considered.
We study the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) in d-wave superconducting ultrathin films. By means of the kernel polynomial method, the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations are solved for square lattices with up to 360×360 unit cells self-consistently, making it possible to observe fully the nanoscale spatial fluctuations of the superconducting order parameters and discriminate accurately the localized quasiparticle states from the extended ones by the lattice-size scaling of the generalized inverse participation ratio. It is shown that Anderson localization can not entirely inhibit the occurrence of the local superconductivity in strongly-disordered d-wave superconductors. Separated by an insulating 'sea' completely, a few isolated superconducting 'islands' with significant enhancement of the local superconducting order parameters can survive across the SIT. The disorder-driven SIT, therefore, is a transition from a d-wave superconductor to a Bose insulator which consists of localized Cooper pairs. Unlike an s-wave superconductor which presents a robust single-particle gap across the SIT, the optical conductivity of a d-wave superconductor reveals a gapless insulating phase, where the SIT can be detected by observing the disappearance of the Drude weight with the increasing disorder.
We study the effect of disorder symmetry in a disordered s-wave superconductor. We begin with an attractive Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice in the presence of diagonal- and off-diagonal disorder. The model is studied numerically using Bogoliubov-deGennes mean-field approach. We find that the off-diagonal disorder is much more efficient in destroying superconducting order. A detailed analysis brings out very distinct qualitative pictures in the two cases: diagonal disorder leads to formation of small scale isolated superconducting islands separated by large region of normal metal, whereas off-diagonal disorder leads to a connected network of superconducting region. Naively, it seems that the connected network of superconducting regions should have a large average value for superconducting order parameter, but this does not hold true for large disorder, as we demonstrate explicitly. Our qualititive picture is supported by real-space data on local order parameters.
Strong correlations arising from interactions between particles are responsible for many phenomena in condensed matter physics, from superconductivity to heavy fermions. An accurate theoretical description of such complex systems requires to solve so-called many-body problems, which are inherently difficult to tackle due to the exponential growth of the underlying Fock space with the size of the system. Usually, single-particle descriptions or perturbation theory at first orders fail to provide satisfactory results in correlated regimes, and pertinent Ansätze or cutting edge numerical methods are required to solvethese problems.Among the wide variety of strongly correlated electronic systems, quantum impurity systems are of central interest. These systems, where a few localized degrees of freedom that undergo strong interactions hybridize with a larger system of free particles, have been widely studied for decades. Beyond their relevance to study dilute dynamic impurities in metals, quantum dots, or more complex nanostructures, they are exploited in a broader class of problems through dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), that is designed for fully interacting lattice problems. Despite the effort devoted to studying of these problems,some questions remain open and new approaches are required to address them.In this thesis, quantum impurity problems are tackled with the use of natural orbitals, a representation rooted in the framework of quantum chemistry. The numerical renormalization group, the standard non-perturbative method to treat these systems, is employed to demonstrate the hierarchical structure of correlations unveiled by natural orbitals. An ansatz for the wavefunction of the ground state is then proposed, separating explicitely a small set of correlated orbitals to a large uncorrelated one, leaving the problem to a few-body complexity. This simplification brought new insights for simulating quantumimpurity problems, and a new algorithm is developed to generate an optimized set of correlated orbitals independently of existing methods, going beyond their usual limitations.In the first place, the algorithm is used to compute the screening cloud in large one-dimensional chains and in a realistic 2D square lattice coupled to a localized adatom. This observable is of great interest to understand the screening mechanism of the magnetic moment of the impurity that plays a central role in transport properties, for unidimensional systems or in bulk metals experiencing RKKY interactions. Spatial correlations were found to be highly non-symmetric, breaking the s-wave picture. In one direction, corre-lations vanish way faster than the usual isotropic correlation length, while on the other one they spread further than this same expected length. This anisotropy suggests that impurities in bulk systems may interact differently depending on their relative positions with respect to the lattice.Taking further advantage of the efficiency of this new algorithm allowed us to perform a statistical study on large systems to investigate correlations around a quantum impurity in a disordered host, averaging over a large amount of realizations, which was not possible with previous approaches. The question motivating this study was the fate of the correlation cloud spreading into the disordered electronic bath. Although spatial correlations are expected to vanish when the disorder increases, long range correlationssurvive to some configurations of the potential, inducing a bimodal structure of probability distribution functions of relevant scales.Finally, these disordered problems are investigated in the non-interacting situation with random matrix theory, which reproduced qualitatively the results obtained before. The joint distribution of one-particle orbitals energies and amplitudes is calculated, which allows to compute any disordered averaged local correlation functions, and calculations in the large-N limit are presented.
We investigate the effect of site disorder on the superconducting state in the attractive Hubbard model within the framework of dynamical mean field theory. For a fixed interaction strength (U), the superconducting order parameter decreases monotonically with increasing disorder (x), while the single-particle spectral gap decreases for small x, reaches a minimum and keeps increasing for larger x. Thus, the system remains gapped beyond the destruction of the superconducting state, indicating a disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition. We investigate this transition in depth considering the effects of weak and strong disorder for a range of interaction strengths. In the clean case, the order parameter is known to increase monotonically with increasing interaction, saturating at a finite value asymptotically for U→∞. The presence of disorder results in destruction of superconductivity at large U, thus drastically modifying the clean case behaviour. A physical understanding of our findings is obtained by invoking particle-hole asymmetry and the probability distributions of the order parameter and spectral gap.