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arXiv:cond-mat/0111398 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Absence of electron dephasing at zero temperature

T. R. Kirkpatrick, D. Belitz

Published May 10, 2002• 9 citations
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Abstract

Dephasing of electrons due to the electron-electron interaction has recently been the subject of a controversial debate, with different calculations yielding mutually incompatible results. In this paper we prove, by means of Ward identities, that in a system with time reversal invariance, neither a Coulomb interaction nor a short-ranged model interaction can lead to phase breaking at zero temperature in spatial dimensions $d>2.$

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.65.195123

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Dephasing of electrons due to the electron-electron interaction has recently been the subject of a controversial debate, with different calculations yielding mutually incompatible results. In this paper we prove, by means of Ward identities, that in a system with time reversal invariance, neither a Coulomb interaction nor a short-ranged model interaction can lead to phase breaking at zero temperature in spatial dimensions d>2.d>2.d>2.
We point out that even at the absolute zero of temperature environmental decoherence limits the destructive interference between time-reversed paths for an electron in a disordered metal, and thus causes the leading (`weak localization') quantum correction to the conductivity to saturate at T=0. Our calculation, which is intended to be illustrative rather than complete, uses a model in which an electron interacts with the fluctuations of the mean voltage in the sample. The average of the fluctuations produces the steady damping well known in Brownian motion, introduces a direction of time, ensures that arbitrarily long time-reversed electron paths lose phase coherence, and is consistent with the experimental observation of a finite low temperature phase-breaking lifetime.
We investigate the manner in which quantum interference is suppressed when a particle interacts with a spatially localized, dynamical environment. To do so we examine a model with two classical paths along which an electron can travel and allow it to interact with a bath of harmonic oscillators on one path and travel freely on the other. In particular, we show that the quantum fluctuations of the path of the particle can couple to the environment and thus lead to dephasing and calculate the dephasing time in the high-temperature limit. We compare this result to other views of how propagating electrons lose phase coherence.
We calculate the inelastic lifetime of an electron quasiparticle due to Coulomb interactions in an electron liquid at low (or zero) temperature in two and three spatial dimensions. The contribution of ``exchange'' processes is calculated analytically and is shown to be non-negligible even in the high-density limit in two dimensions. Exchange effects must therefore be taken into account in a quantitative comparison between theory and experiment. The derivation in the two-dimensional case is presented in detail in order to clarify the origin of the disagreements that exist among the results of previous calculations, even the ones that only took into account ``direct'' processes.
As a potential window on transitions out of the ergodic, many-body-delocalized phase, we study the dephasing of weakly disordered, quasi-one-dimensional fermion systems due to a diffusive, non-Markovian noise bath. Such a bath is self-generated by the fermions, via inelastic scattering mediated by short-ranged interactions. The ergodic phase can be defined by the nonzero dephasing rate, which makes transport incoherent and classical on long length scales. We calculate the dephasing of weak localization perturbatively through second order in the bath coupling, obtaining a short-time expansion. However, no well-defined dephasing rate can be identified, and the expansion breaks down at long times. This perturbative expansion is not stabilized by including a mean-field cooperon ``mass'' (decay rate), signaling a failure of the self-consistent Born approximation. We also consider a many-channel quantum wire where short-ranged, spin-exchange interactions coexist with screened Coulomb interactions. We calculate the dephasing rate, treating the short-ranged interactions perturbatively and the Coulomb interaction exactly. The latter provides a physical infrared regularization that stabilizes perturbation theory at long times, giving the first controlled calculation of quasi-1D dephasing due to diffusive noise. At first order in the diffusive bath coupling, we find an enhancement of the dephasing rate, but at second order, we find a rephasing contribution. Our results differ qualitatively from those obtained via self-consistent calculations commonly employed in higher dimensions. Our results are relevant in two different contexts: first, in the search for precursors to many-body localization in the ergodic phase of an isolated many-fermion system. Second, our results provide a mechanism for the enhancement of dephasing at low temperatures in spin SU(2)-symmetric quantum wires, beyond the Altshuler-Aronov-Khmelnitsky result. The enhancement is possible due to the amplification of the triplet-channel interaction strength and provides an additional physical mechanism that could contribute to the experimentally observed low-temperature saturation of the dephasing time.