How spectrum-wide quantum criticality protects surface states of topological superconductors from Anderson localization: quantum Hall plateau transitions (almost) all the way down

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2021.168439MaRDI QIDQ2063496zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Jonas F. Karcher, Matthew S. Foster

Publication date 11 January 2022

Published in Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.08799

zbMATH Keywords

Kubo conductivitymultifractalityquantum Halltopological superconductorWess-Zumino CFT

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Localizations (e.g., simplicial localization, Bousfield localization) (18N55) Fractals (28A80) Quantum mechanics on special spaces: manifolds, fractals, graphs, lattices (81Q35) Model quantum field theories (81T10) Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc. in quantum mechanics (81T40) Many-body theory; quantum Hall effect (81V70) Critical phenomena in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B27) Disordered systems (random Ising models, random Schrödinger operators, etc.) in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B44) Statistical mechanics of superconductors (82D55)

Abstract: We review recent numerical studies of two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermion theories that exhibit an unusual mechanism of topological protection against Anderson localization. These describe surface-state quasiparticles of time-reversal invariant, three-dimensional (3D) topological superconductors (TSCs), subject to the effects of quenched disorder. Numerics reveal a surprising connection between 3D TSCs in classes AIII, CI, and DIII, and 2D quantum Hall effects in classes A, C, and D. Conventional arguments derived from the non-linear $sigma$-model picture imply that most TSC surface states should Anderson localize for arbitrarily weak disorder (CI, AIII), or exhibit weak antilocalizing behavior (DIII). The numerical studies reviewed here instead indicate spectrum-wide surface quantum criticality, characterized by robust eigenstate multifractality throughout the surface-state energy spectrum. In other words, there is an "energy stack" of critical wave functions. For class AIII, multifractal eigenstate and conductance analysis reveals identical statistics for states throughout the stack, consistent with the class A integer quantum-Hall plateau transition (QHPT). Class CI TSCs exhibit surface stacks of class C spin QHPT states. Critical stacking of a third kind, possibly associated to the class D thermal QHPT, is identified for nematic velocity disorder of a single Majorana cone in class DIII. The Dirac theories studied here can be represented as perturbed 2D Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten sigma models; the numerical results link these to Pruisken models with the topological angle $vartheta=pi$. Beyond applications to TSCs, all three stacked Dirac theories (CI, AIII, DIII) naturally arise in the effective description of dirty $d$-wave quasiparticles, relevant to the high-$T_c$ cuprates.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(1)

• Editorial. Special issue ``Localisation 2020: editorial summary

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