In the presence of quenched disorder, the interplay between local magnetic-moment formation and Anderson localization for electrons at a zero-temperature, metal-insulator transition (MIT) remains a long unresolved problem. Here, we study the emergence of these phenomena in a power-law random banded matrix model of spin-1/2 fermions with repulsive Hubbard interactions. Focusing on the regime of weak interactions, we perform both analytical field theory and numerical self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations. We show that interference-mediated effects strongly enhance the density of states and magnetic fluctuations upon approaching the MIT from the metallic side. These are consistent with results due to Finkel'stein obtained four decades ago. Our numerics further show that local moments nucleate from typical states as we cross the MIT, with a density that grows continuously into the insulating phase. We identify spin-glass order in the insulator by computing the overlap distribution between converged Hartree-Fock mean-field moment profiles. Our results indicate that itinerant interference effects can morph smoothly into moment formation and magnetic frustration within a single model, revealing a common origin for these disparate phenomena.
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.
In quantum mechanics, the wavefunction of a free electron intrinsically embodies wave-particle duality, exhibiting wave- and (or) particle-like characteristics upon measurement. In solids, electrons depart from this idealized description; their low-energy excitations are quasiparticles that, within a single-particle perspective, govern material behavior. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the normal states within the many-body localization (MBL) and Landau-Fermi liquid (LFL) frameworks. We propose a phenomenological correspondence between LFL quasiparticles and the local integral of motion (LIOMs) in an MBL phase, which we term the MBL/LFL duality, by analogy to the wave-particle duality of an electron in free space. Within this heuristic framework, we argue that instabilities of an MBL 'normal state' can admit analogues of Fermi-liquid (FL) instabilities, such as LIOM pairing, and we outline both mean-field and renormalization-group perspectives that highlight possible routes to exotic nonequilibrium phases. These results are primarily suggestive: where small-scale numerical illustrations are presented, they serve to exemplify the proposed scenarios rather than constitute exhaustive numerical proof. Finally, our work offers a broader perspective in which MBL may represent not only a stable endpoint but also a setting for normal-state instabilities that parallel those of conventional Fermi liquids. We hope that the MBL/LFL duality can provide a new avenue for understanding exotic nonequilibrium phases that may emerge from the interplay between localization and interaction-driven instabilities.
We uncover a disorder-driven instability in the diffusive Fermi liquid phase of a class of many-fermion systems, indicative of a metal-insulator transition of first-order type, which arises solely from the competition between quenched disorder and interparticle interactions. Our result is expected to be relevant for sufficiently strong disorder in
d=3 spatial dimensions. Specifically, we study a class of half-filled, Hubbard-like models for spinless fermions with (complex) random hopping and short-ranged interactions on bipartite lattices in $d\ensuremath{\geqslant}2$. In a given realization, the hopping disorder breaks time-reversal invariance but preserves the special ``nesting'' symmetry responsible for the charge density wave instability of the ballistic Fermi liquid. This disorder may arise, e.g., from the application of a random magnetic field to the otherwise clean model. We derive a low-energy effective field theory description for this class of disordered, interacting fermion systems, which takes the form of a Finkel'stein nonlinear sigma model $(\mathrm{FNL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M})$ (A. M. Finkel'stein, Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 84, 168 (1983) [Sov. Phys. JETP 57, 97 (1983)]). We analyze the $\mathrm{FNL}\ensuremath{\sigma}\mathrm{M}$ using a perturbative, one-loop renormalization group analysis controlled via an
ϵ expansion in
d=2+ϵ dimensions. We find that in
d=2 dimensions, the interactions destabilize the conducting phase known to exist in the disordered, noninteracting system. The metal-insulator transition that we identify in
d>2 dimensions
(ϵ>0) occurs for disorder strengths of order
ϵ, and is therefore perturbatively accessible for
ϵ⪡1. We emphasize that the disordered system has no localized phase in the absence of interactions, so that a localized phase and the transition into it can only appear due to the presence of the interactions.
Following a suggestion of Khodel' and Shaginyan (KS), it is shown that a Hartree Fock description of Fermi liquids can lead to very strange results when the interaction has long range. For instance, the sharp drop of particle distribution at the Fermi level can be smeared over a finite
k-range, with a flat plateau in the quasiparticle energy. In practice, such an effect appears as an artefact of the Hartree Fock approximation. The KS effect occurs only for an attraction, in which case it is hidden by superconductivity. Moreover, the enhanced quasiparticle collision rate makes the Hartree Fock approximation untenable. Finally, screening of a strong long range interaction is such that the instability threshold cannot be reached.
We study the effects of generic short-ranged interactions on a system of two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermions subject to a special kind of static disorder, often referred to as ``chiral.'' The noninteracting system is a member of the disorder class
BDI [M. R. Zirnbauer, J. Math. Phys. 37, 4986 (1996)]. It emerges, for example, as a low-energy description of a time-reversal invariant tight-binding model of spinless fermions on a honeycomb lattice, subject to random hopping, and possessing particle-hole symmetry. It is known that, in the absence of interactions, this disordered system is special in that it does not localize in 2D, but possesses extended states and a finite conductivity at zero energy, as well as a strongly divergent low-energy density of states. In the context of the hopping model, the short-range interactions that we consider are particle-hole symmetric density-density interactions. Using a perturbative one-loop renormalization group analysis, we show that the same mechanism responsible for the divergence of the density of states in the noninteracting system leads to an instability, in which the interactions are driven strongly relevant by the disorder. This result should be contrasted with the limit of clean Dirac fermions in 2D, which is stable against the inclusion of weak short-ranged interactions. Our work suggests a mechanism wherein a clean system, initially insensitive to interaction effects, can be made unstable to interactions upon the inclusion of weak static disorder. We dub this mechanism a ``disorder-driven Mott transition.'' Our result for 2D fermions also contrasts sharply with known results in one dimension, where a similar delocalized phase has been shown to be robust against the inclusion of weak interaction effects.