We study the transport properties of interacting electrons in a disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger-liquid model. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization is applicable to the strongly correlated one-dimensional electron system. Two alternative approaches to the problem are developed, both combining fermionic and bosonic treatment of the underlying physics. We calculate the relevant dephasing rate, which for spinless electrons is governed by the interplay of electron-electron interaction and disorder, thus vanishing in the clean limit. Our approach provides a framework for a systematic study of mesoscopic effects in strongly correlated electron systems.
We study the transport properties of interacting electrons in a disordered quantum wire within the framework of the Luttinger liquid model. The conductivity at finite temperature is nonzero only because of inelastic electron-electron scattering. We demonstrate that the notion of weak localization is applicable to the strongly correlated one-dimensional electron system. We calculate the relevant dephasing rate, which for spinless electrons is governed by the interplay of electron-electron interaction and disorder, thus vanishing in the clean limit.
We theoretically investigate transport in a spin-incoherent one-dimensional electron system, which may be realized in quantum wires at low-electron density and finite temperature. Both the pure and disordered cases are considered, both in finite wires and in the thermodynamic limit. The effect of Fermi-liquid leads attached to the finite-length system is also addressed. In the infinite system, we find a phase diagram identical to that obtained for a spinless Luttinger liquid, provided we make the identification
g=2gc, where
g is the interaction parameter in a spinless Luttinger liquid and
gc is the interaction parameter of the charge sector of a Luttinger-liquid theory for electrons with spin. For a finite-length wire attached to Fermi-liquid leads, the transport depends on the details of the disorder in the wire. A simple picture for the crossover from the spin-incoherent regime to the spin-coherent regime as the temperature is varied is also discussed, as well as some physical implications.