We develope a theory of a fundamental effect of the interaction-induced decoherence of the electron wave function in a disordered metal. With the aid of the Keldysh technique and the path integral formalism we derive a formally exact equation of motion for the electron density matrix in the presence of interaction. We demonstrate that the effect of interaction of the electron with other electrons and lattice ions in a disordered metal is equivalent to that of an effective dissipative environment. Quantum noise of this environment causes quantum decoherence even at T=0. Our analysis explicitely accounts for the Pauli principle which plays an important role for inelastic scattering processes but turns out not to affect quantum decoherence. Our results seriously challenge the existence of strong localization in low dimensional disordered metals.
We develope a theory of a fundamental effect of the interaction-induced decoherence of the electron wave function in a disordered metal. With the aid of the Keldysh technique and the path integral formalism we derive a formally exact equation of motion for the electron density matrix in the presence of interaction. We demonstrate that the effect of interaction of the electron with other electrons and lattice ions in a disordered metal is equivalent to that of an effective dissipative environment. Quantum noise of this environment causes quantum decoherence even at T=0. Our analysis explicitely accounts for the Pauli principle which plays an important role for inelastic scattering processes but turns out not to affect quantum decoherence. Our results seriously challenge the existence of strong localization in low dimensional disordered metals.
This is the first in a series of two papers, in which we revisit the problem of decoherence in weak localization. The basic challenge addressed in our work is to calculate the decoherence of electrons interacting with a quantum-mechanical environment while taking proper account of the Pauli principle. First, we review the usual influence functional approach valid for decoherence of electrons due to classical noise, showing along the way how the quantitative accuracy can be improved by properly averaging over closed (rather than unrestricted) random walks. We then use a heuristic approach to show how the Pauli principle may be incorporated into a path-integral description of decoherence in weak localization. This is accomplished by introducing an effective modification of the quantum noise spectrum, after which the calculation proceeds analogous to the case of classical noise. Using this simple but efficient method, which is consistent with much more laborious diagrammatic calculations, we demonstrate how the Pauli principle serves to suppress the decohering effects of quantum fluctuations of the environment, and essentially confirm the classic result of Altshuler, Aronov, and Khmelnitskii [J. Phys. C 15, 7367 (1982)] for the energy-averaged decoherence rate, which vanishes at zero temperature. Going beyond that, we employ our method to calculate explicitly the leading quantum corrections to the classical decoherence rates and to provide a detailed analysis of the energy dependence of the decoherence rate. The basic idea of our approach is general enough to be applicable to the decoherence of degenerate Fermi systems in contexts other than weak localization as well. Paper II will provide a more rigorous diagrammatic basis for our results by rederiving them from a Bethe-Salpeter equation for the Cooperon.
We point out that the low temperature saturation of the electron phase decoherence time in a disordered conductor can be explained within the existing theory of weak localization provided the effect of quantum (high frequency) fluctuations is taken into account. Making use of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem we evaluate the quantum decoherence time, the crossover temperature below which thermal effects become unimportant, and the weak localization correction $\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\sigma}$ at T=0. For 1D systems the latter is found to be $\ensuremath{\delta}\ensuremath{\sigma}/\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\propto}1/\sqrt{N}$, where N is the number of conducting channels.
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.
Anderson localization is a quantum phenomenon in which disorder localizes electronic wave functions. In this work, we propose a new approach to study Anderson localization based on the density matrix formalism. Drawing an analogy to the standard transfer matrix method, we extract the localization length from the modular density matrix in quasi-one-dimensional systems. This approach successfully captures the metal-insulator transition in the three-dimensional Anderson model and in the two-dimensional Anderson model with spin-orbit coupling. It can be also readily extended to multi-orbital systems. We further generalize the formalism to interacting systems, showing that the one-dimensional spinless attractive model exhibits the expected metallic phase, consistent with previous studies. More importantly, we demonstrate the existence of a two-dimensional metallic tendency in the presence of Hubbard interactions and disorder. This method offers a new perspective on Anderson localization and its interplay with interactions.
Using a combination of ground state quantum Monte Carlo and finite size scaling techniques, we perform a systematic study of the effect of Coulomb interaction on the localization length of a disordered two-dimensional electron gas. We find that correlations delocalize the 2D system. In the absence of valley degeneracy (as in GaAs heterostructures), this delocalization effect corresponds to a finite increase of the localization length. The delocalization is much more dramatic in the presence of valley degeneracy [as in Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors], where the localization length increases drastically. We find that a simple mechanism accounts for the main features of the metallic behavior observed in two-dimensional gases. Our findings support the claim that this behavior is a genuine effect of the presence of interactions, yet that the system is not a "true" metal in the thermodynamic sense.
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.