The present thesis adresses three different topics that are all in direct connection to the statistical physics of disordered systems. The first chapter, which is the main part of this work, is devoted to driven interfaces in random media. The main focus is on the case of an ac driving. Our investigations start with the associated mean field theory. At the beginning we consider the case of a constant driving force and discuss the critical behaviour close to the depinning transition. Subsequently, we examine the velocity hysteresis curve for small frequencies by use of analytical and numerical methods. It turns out that all observables under consideration exhibit scaling behaviour on approaching the adiabatic case. Next, we analyse perturbation theory for ac-driven interfaces. Tt turns out, that perturbation theory can only work for sufficiently high interface dimensionalities D>4. The failure of perturbation theory in low dimensions is discussed. The second part of this thesis is concerned with the influence of electroelastic coupling on the behaviour of domain walls in ferroelectrics. For the case of electrostrictive coupling in the high temperature phase we find, that merely the interface tension coefficients are changed in an anisotropic fashion. On the contrary, a piezo effect in the paraphase entails a long range term. After deriving the interface hamiltonian in the harmonic approximation, we determine the roughness of domain walls due to random field disorder using an Imry-Ma type argument. On large length scales, domain walls turn out to be flat. In the last chapter, we consider one-dimensional electronic systems, so-called Luttinger liquids. The subject of the first part is the competition of two phases of one-dimensional disordered fermionic systems, namely the Mott and the Anderson insulator. By relating both, the compressibility as well as a finite optical conductivity to a vanishing mass of charged excitations, the existence of an intermediate Mott glass phase can be excluded. Combining informations about the renormalisation group flow and the energy of topological excitations, as well as using simple scaling arguments, we construct the phase diagram. In the second part we study the replica trick to describe the quantum creep and the linear conductivity at finite temperatures for Luttinger liquids with relevant disorder. We provide approximate solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations for the replica action. The replica limit turns out to be problematic. At the example of a toy model we illustrate a method for the replica limit and demonstrate the emergent difficulties.
The present thesis adresses three different topics that are all in direct connection to the statistical physics of disordered systems. The first chapter, which is the main part of this work, is devoted to driven interfaces in random media. The main focus is on the case of an ac driving. Our investigations start with the associated mean field theory. At the beginning we consider the case of a constant driving force and discuss the critical behaviour close to the depinning transition. Subsequently, we examine the velocity hysteresis curve for small frequencies by use of analytical and numerical methods. It turns out that all observables under consideration exhibit scaling behaviour on approaching the adiabatic case. Next, we analyse perturbation theory for ac-driven interfaces. Tt turns out, that perturbation theory can only work for sufficiently high interface dimensionalities D>4. The failure of perturbation theory in low dimensions is discussed. The second part of this thesis is concerned with the influence of electroelastic coupling on the behaviour of domain walls in ferroelectrics. For the case of electrostrictive coupling in the high temperature phase we find, that merely the interface tension coefficients are changed in an anisotropic fashion. On the contrary, a piezo effect in the paraphase entails a long range term. After deriving the interface hamiltonian in the harmonic approximation, we determine the roughness of domain walls due to random field disorder using an Imry-Ma type argument. On large length scales, domain walls turn out to be flat. In the last chapter, we consider one-dimensional electronic systems, so-called Luttinger liquids. The subject of the first part is the competition of two phases of one-dimensional disordered fermionic systems, namely the Mott and the Anderson insulator. By relating both, the compressibility as well as a finite optical conductivity to a vanishing mass of charged excitations, the existence of an intermediate Mott glass phase can be excluded. Combining informations about the renormalisation group flow and the energy of topological excitations, as well as using simple scaling arguments, we construct the phase diagram. In the second part we study the replica trick to describe the quantum creep and the linear conductivity at finite temperatures for Luttinger liquids with relevant disorder. We provide approximate solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations for the replica action. The replica limit turns out to be problematic. At the example of a toy model we illustrate a method for the replica limit and demonstrate the emergent difficulties.
Disordered elastic systems are studied in the quantum, classical, and dynamic regime in the present thesis. The thesis consists of two main parts: In the first part we study the low temperature phase diagram of one-dimensional weakly disordered quantum systems like charge or spin density waves and Luttinger liquids by a full finite temperature renormalization group (RG) calculation. In the classical region, for vanishing quantum fluctuations those results are supplemented by an exact solution of the model in the case of strong disorder, described by the ground state and the correlation function. Furthermore, by a mapping of the problem onto a Burgers equation with noise, in the case of weak disorder, we can derive an expression for the correlation length. At zero temperature we reproduce the (quantum) phase transition between a pinned (localized) and an unpinned (delocalized) phase for weak and strong quantum fluctuations, respectively, as found previously by Fukuyama or Giamarchi and Schulz. At finite temperatures the localization transition is suppressed: the random potential is wiped out by thermal fluctuations on length scales larger than the thermal de Broglie wave length of the phason excitations. The existence of a zero temperature transition is reflected in a rich cross-over phase diagram determined by the correlation functions. In particular we find four different scaling regions: a classical disordered, a quantum disordered, a quantum critical, and a thermal region. The results can be transferred directly to the discussion of the influence of disorder in superfluids. Finally we extend the RG calculation to the treatment of a commensurate lattice potential, and for the case of density waves we discuss the influence of quantum phase-slips, which might lead to a new scenario for the unpinning (delocalization) transition at zero temperature. Additionally, we analyze the current noise in a classical one-dimensional charge density wave system in the weak pinning regime by solving the overdamped equation of motion numerically. At low temperatures and just above the zero temperature depinning threshold, the power spectrum of the current noise reveals the existence of 1/f or flicker noise. Our results are in agreement with experimental measurements in quasi-one-dimensional charge density wave systems. In part two, we examine the viscous motion of an interface driven by a periodically oscillating external field in a random medium. The velocity exhibits a smeared depinning transition showing a pronounced hysteresis, which is absent in the adiabatic case. Its width is determined by a new length scale, introduced by the frequency of the external drive and - in the low frequency regime - by the critical exponents of the zero frequency depinning transition. Scaling arguments and an approximate renormalization group treatment predict a power law behavior of the velocity as a function of frequency and field amplitude at the dc depinning threshold, which is confirmed numerically. Thermal fluctuations lead to an additional smearing of the transition. If the amplitude of the external driving force is smaller than the depinning field, the motion of the interface by avalanches has to be taken into account in order to describe the velocity hysteresis. To check the validity of our model with respect to experimental results, we calculate the complex susceptibilities using an adiabatic and non-adiabatic approach numerically for finite systems and compare it to measurements of a superferromagnetic granular multilayer system and find that the model of an ac driven interface in a disordered environment can describe the main features of the experimental results. Additionally, the influence of a strong surface potential on the critical depinning of an elastic system, driven in a random medium is considered. If the surface potential prevents depinning completely, the curvature of the displacement profile at zero temperature exhibits a pronounced rhombic hysteresis curve with width of two times the (bulk) depinning field. The hysteresis disappears at non-zero temperatures if the driving force is changed adiabatically. If the surface depinns by the applied force or thermal creep, the curvature is reduced with increasing velocity. The results apply, e.g., to driven magnetic domain walls, flux-line lattices, and charge-density waves. As addendum we examine low dimensional interacting, but clean Bose systems at low temperatures. The interaction leads to scattering events of the over-condensate particles for which we calculate the scattering times using Fermi's golden rule. With that we derive the thermal conductivity and the related weak localization corrections. This is done for short and long-range interactions.
A summary of my research activity is presented in this thesis. The first chapter starts with a short presentation of the known critical properties of the pure Potts model, mainly in two dimensions. The influence of disorder coupled to the energy density is then discussed in the general context of temperature-driven phase transitions. A physical explanation for the smoothing of the transition, due to Imry and Wortis, is presented and then applied to explain the phase diagram of the homogeneous random two and three-dimensional Potts models. It is then extended to the Potts model on irregular graphs and with layered randomness. In the third section, the critical properties at the random fixed point are examined in the light of the series expansion obtained by Renormalisation Group. The multifractal spectrum of scaling dimensions is discussed in the two-dimensional case and a new symmetry is proposed. The predictions of conformal invariance for profiles and correlation functions are compared with numerical data for the two-dimensional random Potts model in strip or square geometries. Finally, the geometrical properties of interfaces induced by symmetry-breaking boundary conditions are analysed in the context of the recent Stochastic Schramm-Loewner Evolution theory. The second chapter is devoted to the aging properties of homogeneous or frustrated Potts models submitted to a quench below or at their critical temperature. The scaling theory of two-time functions, as well as the more recent Local Scale Invariance theory , are presented in the first section. The violation of the Fluctuation-Dissipation theorem is described and the interpretation of the so-called Fluctuation-Dissipation Ratio as an out-of-equilibrium effective temperature is discussed. These ideas are applied to different spin models. First, one-dimensional systems with the Ising symmetry are considered. The equivalence of the KDH model with a gas of immobile particles subjected to pair-annihilation is exploited to obtain new analytical results. The question of the universality of dynamical exponents and ratios is then addressed in the two-dimensional case. Several lattices and several models in different universality classes are compared. A new model with the same symmetry as the three-state Potts model but with an irreversible dynamics is introduced. Its phase diagram in the steady state is determined and its aging properties on the critical line are studied. Finally, the aging of the Fully-Frustrated Ising and XY models are examined. Emphasis is put on the presence of logarithmic corrections due to the existence of topological defects. Two applications of the Jarzynski relation to the Potts model are presented at the end of the chapter. A short third chapter introduces the numerical simulations employed to analyse different set of experimental data. Monte Carlo simulations were used to reproduced some magnetic phase transitions in layered nanostructures. Spectroscopic data of surface reconstructions were compared to the electronic band structure obtained by computing the first eigenvectors of the Bloch-Schrödinger equation with a projective technique combined with a multiscale approach.
In this thesis, the physics of two systems is investigated, both of which support unconventional phases of matter. We investigate a frustrated system which has a classical spin liquid regime in the paramagnetic phase. We also consider a periodically-driven, disordered system and explore nonequilibrium regimes. Both systems exhibit macroscopic behaviour which differs strongly from the behaviour in standard scenarios. First, the properties of frustrated magnets and related systems are discussed. We introduce three-dimensional generalisations of a well-studied two-dimensional frustrated system. These generalisations consist of coupled layers of two-dimensional triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnets. We study three stackings that have nearest-neighbour interactions: two frustrated stackings (abc and abab) and the unfrustrated stacking (aaa). We use a combination of methods, including numerics and analytics, to show that these generalisations exhibit a strongly correlated, highly fluctuating regime known as a classical spin liquid. We show this by investigating the structure factor and correlations directly and by describing a mapping to a continuum field theory that gives further clarity about the classical spin liquid regime using a renormalisation group analysis and consideration of low-lying excitations in these systems. Second, we study the response of a disordered system to a time-periodic driving potential. We start in the context of Mott's work on a.c. conductivity in Anderson insulators and move beyond this to study the Floquet (long-time) regimes beyond linear response. Using Landau-Zener physics, we construct a description of the various regimes which are possible. We also present the results of thorough numerical studies of these systems.
In this thesis, we study the effects of both disorder and low carrier density in low-dimensional systems, employing a variety of analytical and numerical methods. The work is structured in two main parts, each addressing a distinct research direction. The first part focuses on the impact of disorder in one-dimensional and quasi-one dimensional systems. Using tools such as bosonization, renormalization group techniques, and exact diagonalization, we investigate two key aspects. First, we explore how specific spatial correlations in the disorder affect the properties of the metallic-insulating transition in a one-dimensional system, uncovering significant deviations from the behaviour typically associated with uncorrelated disorder. Second, we examine the effects of different types of disorder on a quasi-one-dimensional singlet superconductor, where we recover Anderson’s theorem under certain conditions and observe a competition between disorder and interactions. The second part of the thesis examines magneto-transport in two-dimensional, locally correlated materials. Using a microscopic quantum theory, we demonstrate pronounced deviations of the Hall constant and the conductivities of the system from their semiclassical predictions, in regimes where the Fermi energy is no longer the dominant energy scale.
The first part of the thesis deals with so called numerical renormalization group methods, and in particular the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). This method performs extremely well for large one-dimensional quantum systems like spin-chains and Hubbard models. We discuss general features of the quantum states obtained by using this method for large systems. One finds that the method works better, i.e. faster convergence and higher accuracy, when applied to systems having an energy gap between the ground state and the first excited state. An investigation of the behavior of the DMRG for a simple gapless system is done, mainly focusing on the properties of correlation functions. The second part of the thesis deals with topics related to superconductivity. It starts with a discussion of magnetic Josephson junctions and the physical processes governing the behavior of such a system. We also introduce and discuss models of high-temperature superconductors, in particular the t-J model and its relation to stripes. Starting from the t-J model on a two dimensional square lattice, we discuss an approximation where the spin-configuration is assumed static. We discuss the properties of the fictitious magnetic field experienced by the electrons due to the static spin-configuration. Configurations being close to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic turn out to have very different properties. Furthermore, we derive an effective model for this system and look for different phases of this model. In particular we investigate whether the system takes advantage of a spin-generated fictitious flux. Uniform phases are discussed in a Hartree-Fock approximation and we also consider stripes between antiferromagnetically ordered regions, these being modeled in a self-consistent Hartree approximation. Finally, and inspired by the fictitious fluxes, there is a chapter discussing the statistics of particles living on a circle. It is shown that there are two free parameters in the quantization of such a system and we also sort out the relation between fermions and hard-core bosons in one dimension.
This thesis examines the effects of disorder upon a bundle of coupled one dimensional (ID) systems. Each 1D system is described as a Luttinger liquid, and the coupling between channels is weak enough such that this description remains valid. The coupling can be of either a density-density or current-current type. We consider continuous disorder in each channel, and derive renormalisation group (RG) equations governing the strength of the disorder. We analyse the effects of disorder in two specific examples: a lattice of identical channels, and two distinct channels. In both cases, close to the simultaneous metal-insulator transition, we arrive at coupled Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) equations. Away from the simultaneous transition we analyse the RG \nequations numerically. Inter-channel interactions are found to shift the metal-insulator boundary, and destroy the mixed insulator-conductor phase close to the simultaneous transition.