Critical exponent of metal-insulator transition in doped semiconductors: the relevance of the Coulomb interaction

TL;DR

This paper presents a simulation study of the metal-insulator transition in doped semiconductors, highlighting how Coulomb interactions influence the critical behavior and universality class of the transition.

Contribution

It introduces a density functional theory-based model that incorporates both disorder and Coulomb interactions, revealing a different critical exponent from traditional Anderson models.

Findings

Critical exponent ν ≈ 1.3 for the transition

Coulomb interactions alter the universality class

Differences from Anderson localization model

Abstract

We report a simulation of the metal-insulator transition in a model of a doped semiconductor that treats disorder and interactions on an equal footing. The model is analyzed using density functional theory. From a multi-fractal analysis of the Kohn-Sham eigenfunctions, we find $\nu \approx 1.3$ for the critical exponent of the correlation length. This differs from that of Anderson's model of localization and suggests that the Coulomb interaction changes the universality class of the transition.