Generalized surface multifractality in 2D disordered systems

TL;DR

This paper extends the theory of generalized multifractality to boundaries of 2D disordered systems at criticality, confirming analytical predictions through numerical simulations and revealing partial conformal invariance at Anderson localization critical points.

Contribution

The authors develop a boundary extension of generalized multifractality theory for 2D disordered systems and validate it with numerical simulations, showing violations of conformal invariance.

Findings

Numerical results confirm analytical predictions of pure-scaling observables.

Critical exponents violate generalized parabolicity, indicating non-conformal critical points.

Relations between surface multifractal spectra and Lyapunov exponents hold with high accuracy.

Abstract

Recently, a concept of generalized multifractality, which characterizes fluctuations and correlations of critical eigenstates, was introduced and explored for all ten symmetry classes of disordered systems. Here, by using the non-linear sigma-model field theory, we extend the theory of generalized multifractality to boundaries of systems at criticality. Our numerical simulations on two-dimensional (2D) systems of symmetry classes A, C, and AII fully confirm the analytical predictions of pure-scaling observables and Weyl symmetry relations between critical exponents of surface generalized multifractality. This demonstrates validity of the non-linear sigma-model field theory for description of Anderson-localization critical phenomena not only in the bulk but also on the boundary. The critical exponents strongly violate generalized parabolicity, in analogy with earlier results for the bulk, corroborating the conclusion that the considered Anderson-localization critical points are not described by conformal field theories. We further derive relations between generalized surface multifractal spectra and linear combinations of Lyapunov exponents of a strip in quasi-one-dimensional geometry, which hold under assumption of invariance with respect to a logarithmic conformal map. Our numerics demonstrate that these relations hold with an excellent accuracy. Taken together, our results indicate an intriguing situation: the conformal invariance is broken but holds partially at critical points of Anderson localization.