Anderson critical metal phase in trivial states protected by average magnetic crystalline symmetry

Journal Article · 08 April 2024 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47467-2 · OSTI ID:2472136

Wang, Fa-Jie ^[1]; Xiao, Zhen-Yu ^[2]; Queiroz, Raquel  ^[3]; Bernevig, B. Andrei  ^[4]; Stern, Ady  ^[5]; Song, Zhi-Da ^[6]

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1. Peking University, Beijing (China); OSTI
2. Peking University, Beijing (China)
3. Columbia University, New York, NY (United States)
4. Princeton University, NJ (United States)
5. Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
6. Peking University, Beijing (China); Hefei National Laboratory (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China)

Transitions between distinct obstructed atomic insulators (OAIs) protected by crystalline symmetries, where electrons form molecular orbitals centering away from the atom positions, must go through an intermediate metallic phase. In this work, we find that the intermediate metals will become a scale-invariant critical metal phase (CMP) under certain types of quenched disorder that respect the magnetic crystalline symmetries on average. We explicitly construct models respecting average C_2zT, m, and C_4zT and show their scale-invariance under chemical potential disorder by the finite-size scaling method. Conventional theories, such as weak anti-localization and topological phase transition, cannot explain the underlying mechanism. A quantitative mapping between lattice and network models shows that the CMP can be understood through a semi-classical percolation problem. Ultimately, we systematically classify all the OAI transitions protected by (magnetic) groups Pm, P2', P4', and P6' with and without spin-orbit coupling, most of which can support CMP.

• Research Organization: Columbia University, New York, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: BSF Israel US foundation; European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology; National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Science Foundation (NSF); Simons Foundation; Simons Investigator Grant; US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0019443
• OSTI ID: 2472136
• Journal Information: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English