Interaction effects in 2D electron gas in a random magnetic field: Implications for composite fermions and quantum critical point

TL;DR

This paper studies how a weak, smooth random magnetic field affects electron interactions and density of states in a 2D electron gas, revealing sharp energy-dependent lifetime corrections and oscillatory behavior relevant for composite fermions and quantum criticality.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel, singular correction to electron lifetime and density of states caused by weak magnetic fields, with implications for quantum critical systems.

Findings

Interaction correction to electron lifetime has a sharp energy dependence.

Disorder-averaged density of states exhibits oscillations with a new low-energy scale.

Effects are relevant for composite fermions and ferromagnetic quantum criticality.

Abstract

We consider a clean two-dimensional interacting electron gas subject to a random perpendicular magnetic field, h({\bf r}). The field is nonquantizing, in the sense, that {\cal N}_h-a typical flux into the area \lambda_{\text{\tiny F}}^2 in the units of the flux quantum (\lambda_{\text{\tiny F}} is the de Broglie wavelength) is small, {\cal N}_h\ll 1. If the spacial scale, \xi, of change of h({\bf r}) is much larger than \lambda_{\text{\tiny F}}, the electrons move along semiclassical trajectories. We demonstrate that a weak field-induced curving of the trajectories affects the interaction-induced electron lifetime in a singular fashion: it gives rise to the correction to the lifetime with a very sharp energy dependence. The correction persists within the interval \omega \sim \omega_0= E_{\text{\tiny F}}{\cal N}_h^{2/3} much smaller than the Fermi energy, E_{\text{\tiny F}}. It emerges in the third order in the interaction strength; the underlying physics is that a small phase volume \sim (\omega/E_{\text{\tiny F}})^{1/2} for scattering processes, involving {\em two} electron-hole pairs, is suppressed by curving. Even more surprising effect that we find is that {\em disorder-averaged} interaction correction to the density of states, \delta\nu(\omega), exhibits {\em oscillatory} behavior, periodic in \bigl(\omega/\omega_0\bigr)^{3/2}. In our calculations of interaction corrections random field is incorporated via the phases of the Green functions in the coordinate space. We discuss the relevance of the new low-energy scale for realizations of a smooth random field in composite fermions and in disordered phase of spin-fermion model of ferromagnetic quantum criticality.