The nature of the spectrum for a Landau Hamiltonian with delta impurities

We consider a single-band approximation to the random Schrödinger operator in an external magnetic field. The random potential consists of delta functions of random strengths situated on the sites of a regular two-dimensional lattice. We characterize the entire spectrum of this Hamiltonian when the magnetic field is sufficiently high. We show that the whole spectrum is pure point, the energy coinciding with the first Landau level in the absence of a random potential being infinitely degenerate, while the eigenfunctions corresponding to energies in the rest of the spectrum are localized.     

Anderson Localization at Band Edges for Random Magnetic Fields

We consider a magnetic Schrödinger operator in two dimensions. The magnetic field is given as the sum of a large and constant magnetic field and a random magnetic field. Moreover, we allow for an additional deterministic potential as well as a magnetic field which are both periodic. We show that the spectrum of this operator is contained in broadened bands around the Landau levels and that the edges of these bands consist of pure point spectrum with exponentially decaying eigenfunctions. The proof is based on a recent Wegner estimate obtained in Erd?s and Hasler (Commun. Math. Phys., preprint, arXiv:1012.5185) and a multiscale analysis.     

Landau Hamiltonians with random potentials: Localization and the density of states

We prove the existence of localized states at the edges of the bands for the two-dimensional Landau Hamiltonian with a random potential, of arbitrary disorder, provided that the magnetic field is sufficiently large. The corresponding eigenfunctions decay exponentially with the magnetic field and distance. We also prove that the integrated density of states is Lipschitz continuous away from the Landau energies. The proof relies on a Wegner estimate for the finite-area magnetic Hamiltonians with random potentials and exponential decay estimates for the finitearea Green's functions. The proof of the decay estimates for the Green's functions uses fundamental results from two-dimensional bond percolation theory.Supported in part by CNRS.Supported in part by NSF grants INT 90-15895 and DMS 93-07438.Unité Propre de Recherche 7061.     

How does a strong magnetic field destroy localization in two-dimensional disordered systems?

Two dimensional disorder in a strong magnetic field is investigated in terms of random matrix theory and in comparison to the conventional Anderson tight-binding model. Disorder is introduced by an ensemble average over a random potential which has to be projected onto single Landau bands. This leads to a random matrix problem for single Landau levels whose special properties are examined. We describe a method which allows a proper projection of various random potentials, specified by a correlation function, onto arbitrary subspaces. The matrix elements of the Hamiltonian for single Landau bands are strongly correlated along the diagonals. The influence of such correlations on the localization properties is examined for a disk geometry. We obtain a qualitative understanding for the question raised in the title of the paper.     

Stationary point analysis of the one-dimensional lattice Landau gauge fixing functional, aka random phase XY Hamiltonian

We study the stationary points of what is known as the lattice Landau gauge fixing functional in one-dimensional compact U(1) lattice gauge theory, or as the Hamiltonian of the one-dimensional random phase XY model in statistical physics. An analytic solution of all stationary points is derived for lattices with an odd number of lattice sites and periodic boundary conditions. In the context of lattice gauge theory, these stationary points and their indices are used to compute the gauge fixing partition function, making reference in particular to the Neuberger problem. Interpreted as stationary points of the one-dimensional XY Hamiltonian, the solutions and their Hessian determinants allow us to evaluate a criterion which makes predictions on the existence of phase transitions and the corresponding critical energies in the thermodynamic limit.     

Lifshitz Tails in Constant Magnetic Fields

We consider the 2D Landau Hamiltonian H perturbed by a random alloy-type potential, and investigate the Lifshitz tails, i.e. the asymptotic behavior of the corresponding integrated density of states (IDS) near the edges in the spectrum of H. If a given edge coincides with a Landau level, we obtain different asymptotic formulae for power-like, exponential sub-Gaussian, and super-Gaussian decay of the one-site potential. If the edge is away from the Landau levels, we impose a rational-flux assumption on the magnetic field, consider compactly supported one-site potentials, and formulate a theorem which is analogous to a result obtained by the first author and T. Wolff in [25] for the case of a vanishing magnetic field.     

The fate of lifshits tails in magnetic fields

We investigate the integrated density of states of the Schrödinger operator in the Euclidean plane with a perpendicular constant magnetic field and a random potential. For a Poisson random potential with a nonnegative, algebraically decaying, single-impurity potential we prove that the leading asymptotic behavior for small energies is always given by the corresponding classical result, in contrast to the case of vanishing magnetic field. We also show that the integrated density of states of the operator restricted to the eingenspace of any Landau level exhibits the same behavior. For the lowest Landau level, this is in sharp contrast to the case of a Poisson random potential with a delta-function impurity potential.     

Non-Abelian Chern-Simons particles in an external magnetic field

The quantum mechanics and thermodynamics of SU(2) non-Abelian Chern-Simons particles (non-Abelian anyons) in an external magnetic field are addressed. We derive the N-body Hamiltonian in the (anti-) holomorphic gauge when the Hilbert space is projected onto the lowest Landau level of the magnetic field. In the presence of an additional harmonic potential, the N-body spectrum depends linearly on the coupling (statistics) parameter. We calculate the second virial coefficient and find that in the strong magnetic field limit it develops a step-wise behavior as a function of the statistics parameter, in contrast to the linear dependence in the case of Abelian anyons. For small enough values of the statistics parameter we relate the N-body partition functions in the lowest Landau level to these of SU(2) bosons and find that the cluster (and virial) coefficients dependence on the statistics parameter cancels.     

The effect of exchange interaction on quasiparticle Landau levels in narrow-gap quantum well heterostructures

Using the 'screened' Hartree-Fock approximation based on the eight-band k·p Hamiltonian, we have extended our previous work (Krishtopenko et al 2011 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 23 385601) on exchange enhancement of the g-factor in narrow-gap quantum well heterostructures by calculating the exchange renormalization of quasiparticle energies, the density of states at the Fermi level and the quasiparticle g-factor for different Landau levels overlapping. We demonstrate that exchange interaction yields more pronounced Zeeman splitting of the density of states at the Fermi level and leads to the appearance of peak-shaped features in the dependence of the Landau level energies on the magnetic field at integer filling factors. We also find that the quasiparticle g-factor does not reach the maximum value at odd filling factors in the presence of large overlapping of spin-split Landau levels. We advance an argument that the behavior of the quasiparticle g-factor in weak magnetic fields is defined by a random potential of impurities in narrow-gap heterostructures.     

Effective Hamiltonian for striped and paired states at the half-filled Landau level

We study a pairing mechanism for the quantum Hall system using a mean field theory with a basis on the von Neumann lattice, on which the magnetic translations commute. In the Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov approximation, we solve the gap equation for spin-polarized electrons at the half-filled Landau levels. We obtain an effective Hamiltonian which shows a continuous transition from the compressible striped state to the paired state. Furthermore, a crossover occurs in the pairing phase. The energy spectrum and energy gap of the quasiparticle in the paired state is calculated numerically at the half-filled second Landau level.     

Widths of the Hall Conductance Plateaus

We study the charge transport of the noninteracting electron gas in a two-dimensional quantum Hall system with Anderson-type impurities at zero temperature. We prove that there exist localized states of the bulk order in the disordered-broadened Landau bands whose energies are smaller than a certain value determined by the strength of the uniform magnetic field. We also prove that, when the Fermi level lies in the localization regime, the Hall conductance is quantized to the desired integer and shows the plateau of the bulk order for varying the filling factor of the electrons rather than the Fermi level.     

Theory of the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in graphite

We predict the existence of a three-dimensional quantum Hall effect plateau in a graphite crystal subject to a magnetic field. The plateau has a Hall conductivity quantized at 4e2/variant Planck's over 2pi 1/c0 with c0 the c-axis lattice constant. We analyze the three-dimensional Hofstadter problem of a realistic tight-binding Hamiltonian for graphite, find the gaps in the spectrum, and estimate the critical value of the magnetic field above which the Hall plateau appears. When the Fermi level is in the bulk Landau gap, Hall transport occurs through the appearance of chiral surface states. We estimate the magnetic field necessary for the appearance of the effect to be 15.4 T for electron carriers and 7.0 T for holes.     

Delocalization transition of two-dimensional disordered systems in a strong magnetic field

The delocalization transition in two-dimensional systems and a strong magnetic field is investigated with respect to its dependence on the Landau band indexj and on the type of disorder. The generation of random potentials according to a given correlation functionf and for a chosen correlation lengthd is described. The spectral properties of random eigenvalue sequences are examined as measures for the extension of wavefunctions and indicate a nonuniversal delocalization behaviour in higher Landau bands for short ranged correlated potentials. The critical exponents of the localization length of wavefunctions are determined for rapidly varying potentials in the second lowest Landau band (j=1) and depend on the correlation lengthd of the disorder. This different critical behaviour compared to that in the lowest band is confirmed by calculations for the density-density correlations of wavefunctions at the centers of the Landau levels. Calculations in different geometries also show that the critical systems of delocalized states are conformal invariant in the case of the nonuniversal delocalization transition (dl ₀), whereas such local rescaling properties cannot be expected for slowly varying potentials.     

Resistance and eigenstates in a tight-binding model with quasiperiodic potential

A one-dimensional tight-binding model on a spatially periodic lattice of lengthN, with quasiperiodic potential strength given by the Fibonacci sequence, is investigated numerically. We elucidate theN-dependence of the resistence and the nature of the wave functions. For energies belonging to the spectrum, the results provide strong evidence for algebraic localization and algebraicN-dependence of the resistance, with a distribution of exponents. Implications for quantum chaos are also discussed.     

Dynamical Localization for Unitary Anderson Models

This paper establishes dynamical localization properties of certain families of unitary random operators on the d-dimensional lattice in various regimes. These operators are generalizations of one-dimensional physical models of quantum transport and draw their name from the analogy with the discrete Anderson model of solid state physics. They consist in a product of a deterministic unitary operator and a random unitary operator. The deterministic operator has a band structure, is absolutely continuous and plays the role of the discrete Laplacian. The random operator is diagonal with elements given by i.i.d. random phases distributed according to some absolutely continuous measure and plays the role of the random potential. In dimension one, these operators belong to the family of CMV-matrices in the theory of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle. We implement the method of Aizenman-Molchanov to prove exponential decay of the fractional moments of the Green function for the unitary Anderson model in the following three regimes: In any dimension, throughout the spectrum at large disorder and near the band edges at arbitrary disorder and, in dimension one, throughout the spectrum at arbitrary disorder. We also prove that exponential decay of fractional moments of the Green function implies dynamical localization, which in turn implies spectral localization. These results complete the analogy with the self-adjoint case where dynamical localization is known to be true in the same three regimes.     

Levitation of Extended States in a Random Magnetic Field with a Finite Mean

We study the localization properties of electrons in a two-dimensional system in a random magnetic field B(r)=B₀+δB(r) with the average B₀ and the amplitude of the magnetic field fluctuations δB. The localization length of the system is calculated by using the finite-size scaling method combined with the transfer-matrix technique. In the case of weak δB, we find that the random magnetic field system is equivalent to the integer quantum Hall effect system, namely, the energy band splits into a series of disorder broadened Landau bands, at the centers of which states are extended with the localization length exponent ν=2.34±0.02. With increasing δB, the extended states float up in energy, which is similar to the levitation scenario proposed for the integer quantum Hall effect.     

Quantum mechanical Hamiltonians with large ground-state degeneracy

Nonrelativistic Hamiltonians with large, even infinite, ground-state degeneracy are studied by connecting the degeneracy to the property of a Dirac operator. We then identify a special class of Hamiltonians, for which the full space of degenerate ground states in any spatial dimension can be exhibited explicitly. The two-dimensional version of the latter coincides with the Pauli Hamiltonian, and recently-discussed models leading to higher-dimensional Landau levels are obtained as special cases of the higher-dimensional version of this Hamiltonian. But, in our framework, it is only the asymptotic behavior of the background ‘potential’ that matters for the ground-state degeneracy. We work out in detail the ground states of the three-dimensional model in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and such potential. In the latter case one can see degenerate stacking of all 2d Landau levels along the magnetic field axis.     

Localization and the integer-quantized Hall effect: Diffusion constant for high Landau levels and white noise potential

The diffusion constant and the diagonal conductivity for non-interacting electrons in a two-dimensional, disordered system are studied. A homogeneous magnetic field perpendicular to the electron system is assumed. For weak short-range random potentials and high fields the Landau quantum numbern can be used as expansion parameter. In the limit of high Landau levels the system shows metallic behaviour. Corrections for finiten decrease the conductivity and indicate localized states in the whole energy band. A breakdown of the expansion and stronger localization are observed only for the lowest Landau levels if the typical experimental length scale of the quantized Hall effect is used.     

A Feynman-Kac formula for the quantum Heisenberg ferromagnet. I

The Hamiltonian of the (anisotropic) quantum Heisenberg (anti-) ferromagnet on an arbitrary finite lattice is lifted to a Hamiltonian acting on sections of the bundle obtained by twisting a certain line bundle over the classical spin configuration space (which is a Kähler manifold) with the Dolbeault complex. This procedure is extended fromSU(2) to arbitrary compact semi-simple Lie groups and arbitrary irreducible representations. The Bott-Borel-Weil theorem gives a heat kernel representation for the original partition function in an external magnetic field. TheU(1)-gauged local Hamiltonian is the sum of the free, supersymmetric, twisted Dolbeault Laplace operator (multiplied by the inverse of an arbitrary small mass parameter) plus the lifted Hamiltonian.The resulting (Euclidean) Lagrangian is nonlocal and describes bosons which do and fermions which do not propagate through the lattice. All fields couple to the external magnetic field. The Lagrangian contains Yukawa and Luttinger type interactions.