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arXiv:cond-mat/9712217 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Interactions and scaling in a disordered two-dimensional metal

Sudip Chakravarty, Lan Yin, Elihu Abrahams

Published Jul 1, 1998• 54 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that a non-Fermi-liquid state of interacting electrons in two dimensions is stable in the presence of disorder and is a perfect conductor, provided the interactions are sufficiently strong. Otherwise, the disorder leads to localization as in the case of noninteracting electrons. This conclusion is established by examining the replica field theory in the weak-disorder limit, but in the presence of arbitrary electron-electron interaction. Thus, a disordered two-dimensional metal is a perfect metal, but not a Fermi liquid.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.58.r559

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We show that a non-Fermi-liquid state of interacting electrons in two dimensions is stable in the presence of disorder and is a perfect conductor, provided the interactions are sufficiently strong. Otherwise, the disorder leads to localization as in the case of noninteracting electrons. This conclusion is established by examining the replica field theory in the weak-disorder limit, but in the presence of arbitrary electron-electron interaction. Thus, a disordered two-dimensional metal is a perfect metal, but not a Fermi liquid.
The interplay of interactions and disorder in two-dimensional (2D) electron systems has actively been studied for decades. The paradigmatic approach involves starting with a clean Fermi liquid and perturbing the system with both disorder and interactions. Instead, we start with a clean non-Fermi liquid near a 2D ferromagnetic quantum critical point and consider the effects of disorder. In contrast with the disordered Fermi liquid, we find that our model does not suffer from runaway flows to strong coupling and the system has a marginally stable fixed point with perfect conduction.
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Understanding the influence of quenched random potential is crucial for comprehending the exotic electronic transport of non-Fermi liquid metals near metallic quantum critical points. In this study, we identify a stable fixed point governing the quantum critical behavior of two-dimensional non-Fermi liquid metals in the presence of a random potential disorder. By performing renormalization group analysis on a dimensional-regularized field theory for Ising-nematic quantum critical points, we systematically investigate the interplay between random potential disorder for electrons and Yukawa-type interactions between electrons and bosonic order-parameter fluctuations in a perturbative epsilon expansion. At the one-loop order, the effective field theory lacks stable fixed points, instead exhibiting a runaway flow toward infinite disorder strength. However, at the two-loop order, the effective field theory converges to a stable fixed point characterized by finite disorder strength, termed the “disordered non-Fermi liquid (DNFL) fixed point”. Our investigation reveals that two-loop vertex corrections induced by Yukawa couplings are pivotal in the emergence of the DNFL fixed point, primarily through screening disorder scattering. Additionally, the DNFL fixed point is distinguished by a substantial anomalous scaling dimension of fermion fields, resulting in pseudogap-like behavior in the electron’s density of states. These findings shed light on the quantum critical behavior of disordered non-Fermi liquid metals, emphasizing the indispensable role of higher-order loop corrections in such comprehension.
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