Thermal melting of a quantum electron solid in the presence of strong disorder: Anderson versus Wigner

DinhDuy Vu; Sankar Das Sarma

doi:10.1103/physrevb.106.l121103

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2110.06229

Thermal melting of a quantum electron solid in the presence of strong disorder: Anderson versus Wigner

DinhDuy Vu·Sankar Das Sarma

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We consider temperature-induced melting of a Wigner solid in one dimensional (1D) and two dimensional (2D) lattices of electrons interacting via the long-range Coulomb interaction in the presence of strong disorder arising from charged impurities in the system. The system simulates semiconductor-based 2D electron layers where Wigner crystallization is often claimed to be observed experimentally. Using exact diagonalization and utilizing the inverse participation ratio as well as conductance to distinguish between the localized insulating solid phase and the extended metallic liquid phase, we find that the effective melting temperature may be strongly enhanced by disorder since the disordered crystal typically could be in a localized glassy state incorporating the combined nonperturbative physics of both Anderson localization and Wigner crystallization. This disorder-induced enhancement of the melting temperature may explain why experiments often manage to observe insulating disorder-pinned Wigner solids in spite of the experimental temperature being decisively far above the theoretical melting temperature of the pristine Wigner crystal phase in many cases.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.str-el

Keep this discovery

BibTeX RIS

DinhDuy Vu, Sankar Das Sarma. 2021-10-12. Thermal melting of a quantum electron solid in the presence of strong disorder: Anderson versus Wigner. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.106.l121103

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Irrationality Measure Controls Long-Wavelength Charge Fluctuations in Quasiperiodic Systems

Quasiperiodic order is characterized by irrational frequencies whose rational approximability known as irrationality measure defines distinct arithmetic classes. We establish that this arithmetic classification has direct physical consequences for long-wavelength charge fluctuations. In translation-covariant quasiperiodic systems, the infrared scaling of charge fluctuation is governed by the interplay between the irrationality exponent of irrational frequency and the large-harmonic decay of the hull charge profile: the latter determines the available charge weight, while the former controls how efficiently that weight is transferred to the infrared. Consequently, all algebraic irrational frequencies share the same arithmetic scaling, whereas exceptionally well-approximable transcendental frequencies can exhibit strongly enhanced infrared fluctuation scaling. We further prove that occupied states separated from the Fermi level by a gap stable throughout the hull contribute only an analytic infrared background, leaving the nontrivial scaling to near-Fermi states. Our results extend to general translation-covariant multi-frequency quasiperiodic systems.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2026

Curvature-Induced Geometric Universality in Non-Hermitian Anderson Transitions

In Euclidean space, universality classes of Anderson transitions are primarily determined by symmetry and spatial dimensionality. Here, we present evidence for a geometry-controlled universality class of non-Hermitian Anderson transitions on hyperbolic-like lattices. In this setting, critical behavior is influenced by the large-scale hyperbolic geometry, characterized by negative curvature, exponential volume growth, and a non-Euclidean notion of spatial scaling. Finite-size scaling of participation ratios across several distinct $ \{p,q\} $ tilings reveals one-parameter scaling collapses with a common critical exponent $ \nu\simeq1 $ within numerical accuracy. A complementary phenomenological coarse-grained Landau-Ginzburg analysis shows how exponential correlation-volume growth suppresses critical fluctuations, offering a rationale for the observed mean-field-like scaling. Our results suggest that spatial curvature can act as an additional organizing principle for Anderson-transition universality beyond the conventional dimensionality- and symmetry-based classification.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2026

Finite-rank multiplicative perturbations of rotationally invariant non-Hermitian random matrices

We study finite-rank multiplicative deformations of rotationally invariant non-Hermitian random matrices. More precisely, we consider models of the form $\mathbf{A}(\mathbf{I}+\mathbf{T})$, where $\mathbf{A}$ is a large rotationally invariant non-Hermitian random matrix, $\mathbf{T}$ is a finite-rank normal perturbation, and $\mathbf{I}$ denotes the identity matrix. We characterize the emergence of outlier eigenvalues, their fluctuations, and the associated eigenvector overlaps. Our results provide a multiplicative non-Hermitian counterpart to the classical Baik--Ben Arous--P\'ech\'e framework.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗