Spectral Functions of One-Dimensional Systems with Correlated Disorder

Abstract

We investigate the spectral function of Bloch states in an one-dimensional tight-binding non-interacting chain with two different models of static correlated disorder, at zero temperature. We report numerical calculations of the single-particle spectral function based on the Kernel Polynomial Method, which has an $\mathcal{O}(N)$ computational complexity. These results are then confirmed by analytical calculations, where precise conditions were obtained for the appearance of a classical limit in a single-band lattice system. Spatial correlations in the disordered potential give rise to non-perturbative spectral functions shaped as the probability distribution of the random on-site energies, even at low disorder strengths. In the case of disordered potentials with an algebraic power-spectrum, $\propto\left|k\right|^{-\alpha}$, we show that the spectral function is not self-averaging for $\alpha\geq1$.