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arXiv:2509.13090 · Physical review. E

Self-organized model for the flicker noise in interacting two-dimensional electron gas

Maryam Pirgholi, M. N. Najafi, V. Adami

Published Jul 1, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate self-organized criticality in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by introducing a lattice-based model that incorporates electron-electron interactions through the concept of coherence length. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that in the strongly interacting regime, the system exhibits a distinct set of universal critical exponents, markedly different from those observed in the weakly interacting limit. This dichotomy aligns with experimental findings on the metal-insulator transition in 2DEGs, where high-interaction strength (low carrier density) leads to qualitatively different behavior. The analysis includes scaling of the average electron density with temperature, the power spectral density, and the statistics of electronic avalanches, including avalanche size distributions and autocorrelation functions. In all cases the extracted exponents differ significantly between the weak and strong interaction regimes, highlighting the emergence of two universality classes governed by interaction strength. These results underscore the critical role of electron correlations in the self-organized behavior of low-dimensional electronic systems.

DOI
10.1103/t1p4-k6d8

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We investigate self-organized criticality in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by introducing a lattice-based model that incorporates electron-electron interactions through the concept of coherence length. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that in the strongly interacting regime, the system exhibits a distinct set of universal critical exponents, markedly different from those observed in the weakly interacting limit. This dichotomy aligns with experimental findings on the metal-insulator transition in 2DEGs, where high-interaction strength (low carrier density) leads to qualitatively different behavior. The analysis includes scaling of the average electron density with temperature, the power spectral density, and the statistics of electronic avalanches, including avalanche size distributions and autocorrelation functions. In all cases the extracted exponents differ significantly between the weak and strong interaction regimes, highlighting the emergence of two universality classes governed by interaction strength. These results underscore the critical role of electron correlations in the self-organized behavior of low-dimensional electronic systems.
The quantum phase transition observed experimentally in two-dimensional (2D) electron systems has been a subject of theoretical and experimental studies for almost 30 years. We suggest Gaussian approximation to the mean-field theory of the second-order phase transition to explain the experimental data. Our approach explains self-consistently the universal value of the critical exponent 3/2 (found after scaling measured resistivities on both sides of the transition as a function of temperature) as the result of the divergence of the correlation length when the electron density approaches the critical value. We also provide numerical evidence for the stretched exponential temperature dependence of the metallic phase's resistivities in a wide range of temperatures and show that it leads to correct qualitative results. Finally, we interpret the phase diagram on the density-temperature plane exhibiting the quantum critical point, quantum critical trajectory and two crossover lines. Our research presents a theoretical description of the seminal experimental results.
This chapter focuses on studies of the critical behavior of conductivity in two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) with different amounts and types of disorder as well as different ranges of Coulomb interactions, in order to identify possible universality classes of the 2D metal-insulator transition (MIT). It discusses the manifestations of glassiness in both low- and high-disorder samples. The chapter examines the critical region near the 2D MIT in particular on describing conductivity measurements that have demonstrated dynamical scaling, the main signature of the MIT as a quantum phase transition. It also focuses on experiments that probe the nature of the insulating state, as well as charge dynamics across the MIT, in both high- and low-disorder 2DESs. There is substantial evidence that in many materials near the MIT both strong electronic correlations and disorder play an important role, and thus their competition is expected to lead to glassy behavior of electrons, in analogy with other frustrated systems.
We study the effects of electron-electron interactions in disordered metals in and close to two dimensions (2D). We consider physical situations in which localization effects are suppressed. The field-theoretical renormalization-group (RG) calculation performed recently by Finkelstein is interpreted and rederived in terms of perturbative results. Surprisingly, except for the density of states, the scaling behavior is independent of the interaction range. We further extend the model to several new universality classes. In the presence of a strong magnetic field the metal is unstable in 2D and undergoes a metal-insulator transition in $d=2+\ensuremath{\epsilon}$. The conductivity exponent, defined by $\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\sim}{(n\ensuremath{-}{n}_{c})}^{\ensuremath{\mu}}$, is universal with $\ensuremath{\mu}=1+O(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$ but N(EF)N({E}_{F})N(EF​) depends not only on the range of the interaction but also on its strength for short-ranged interactions. In 2D the conductivity has a universal temperature dependence [$\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)={\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{N}(2\ensuremath{-}2\mathrm{ln}2)\mathrm{ln}(T\ensuremath{\tau})$, ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{N}=\frac{{e}^{2}}{2{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{2}\ensuremath{\hbar}}$] if the interaction is Coulombic. If magnetic impurities (or strong spin-orbit scattering with a weak magnetic field) are present instead, the noninteracting fixed point is stable for short-ranged interactions ($\ensuremath{\mu}=\frac{1}{2}$). For the Coulomb interaction the interaction is relevant and drives a metal-insulator transition in $d=2+\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ with universal critical properties ($\ensuremath{\mu}=1$). In 2D the conductivity also has a universal temperature dependence [$\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)={\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{N}\mathrm{ln}(T\ensuremath{\tau})$]. We also discuss the behavior of the dielectric constant on the insulator side and the frequency (temperature) dependence of the conductivity at criticality. Remarks are made on the relationship of the above to experiments.
It is now possible to study experimentally the combined effect of disorder and interactions in cold atom physics. Motivated by these developments we investigate the dynamics around the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in a one-dimensional Fermi gas with short-range interactions in a quasiperiodic potential by the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group technique. By tuning disorder and interactions we study the MIT from the weakly to the strongly interacting limit. The MIT is not universal as time evolution, well described by a process of anomalous diffusion, depends qualitatively on the interaction strength. By using scaling ideas we relate the parameter that controls the diffusion process with the critical exponent that describes the divergence of the localization length. In the limit of strong interactions theoretical arguments suggest that the motion at the MIT tends to ballistic and critical exponents approach mean-field predictions.
We investigate the critical behaviors of correlation length and critical exponents for strongly interacting bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice via quantum Monte Carlo simulations. By comparing the full numerical results to those given by the effective theory, we quantitatively determine the critical regime where the universal scaling behaviors apply at a finite temperature, for both classical Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and quantum phase transition from superfluid to Mott insulator. Our results represent the critical regime that should be observed in present experimental conditions.
Quantum criticality of metal-insulator transitions in correlated electron systems is shown to belong to an unconventional universality class with violation of the Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson (GLW) scheme formulated for symmetry breaking transitions. This unconventionality arises from an emergent character of the quantum critical point, which appears at the marginal point between the Ising-type symmetry breaking at nonzero temperatures and the topological transition of the Fermi surface at zero temperature. We show that Hartree-Fock approximations of an extended Hubbard model on square lattices are capable of such metal-insulator transitions with unusual criticality under a preexisting symmetry breaking. The obtained universality is consistent with the scaling theory formulated for Mott transitions and with a number of numerical results beyond the mean-field level, implying that preexisting symmetry breaking is not necessarily required for the emergence of this unconventional universality. Examinations of fluctuation effects indicate that the obtained critical exponents remain essentially exact beyond the mean-field level. It further clarifies the whole structure of singularities by a unified treatment of the bandwidth-control and filling-control transitions. Detailed analyses of the criticality, containing diverging carrier density fluctuations around the marginal quantum critical point, are presented from microscopic calculations and reveal the nature as quantum critical ``opalescence.'' The mechanism of emerging marginal quantum critical point is ascribed to a positive feedback and interplay between the preexisting gap formation present even in metals and kinetic energy gain (loss) of the metallic carrier. Analyses of crossovers between GLW type at nonzero temperature and topological type at zero temperature show that the critical exponents observed in (V,Cr)2O3{(\mathrm{V},\mathrm{Cr})}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}(V,Cr)2​O3​ and $\ensuremath{\kappa}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{ET}$-type organic conductors provide us with evidence for the existence of the present marginal quantum criticality.