Full distribution of the ground-state energy of potentials with weak disorder

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the probability distribution of the ground-state energy of a quantum particle in a weakly disordered potential, revealing a phase transition characterized by a nonanalytic large-deviation function.

Contribution

It provides an analytical calculation of the large-deviation function for the ground-state energy in various potentials and uncovers a second-order phase transition in a finite one-dimensional system.

Findings

The distribution scales as e^{-s(E)/ε} in the weak-disorder limit.

A nonanalyticity in s(E) indicates a second-order phase transition.

Homogeneous configurations dominate above E_c, inhomogeneous below E_c.

Abstract

We study the full distribution $P(E)$ of the ground-state energy of a single quantum particle in a potential $V(\boldsymbol{x}) = V_0(\boldsymbol{x}) + \sqrt{\epsilon} \, v_1(\boldsymbol{x})$, where $V_0(\boldsymbol{x})$ is a deterministic ``background'' trapping potential and $v_1(\boldsymbol{x})$ is the disorder. We consider arbitrary trapping potentials $V_0(\boldsymbol{x})$ and white-noise disorder $v_1(\boldsymbol{x})$, in arbitrary spatial dimension $d$. In the weak-disorder limit $\epsilon \to 0$, we find that $P(E)$ scales as $P(E) \sim e^{-s(E)/\epsilon}$. The large-deviation function $s(E)$ is obtained by calculating the most likely configuration of $V(\boldsymbol{x})$ conditioned on a given ground-state energy $E$. For infinite systems, we obtain $s(E)$ analytically in the limits $E \to \pm \infty$ and $E \simeq E_0$ where $E_0$ is the ground-state energy in the absence of disorder. We perform explicit calculations for the case of a harmonic trap $V_0(\boldsymbol{x}) \propto x^2$ in dimensions $d\in\left\{ 1,2,3\right\}$. Next, we calculate $s(E)$ exactly for a finite, periodic one-dimensional system with a homogeneous background $V_0(x)=0$. We find that, remarkably, the system exhibits a sudden change of behavior as $E$ crosses a critical value $E_c < 0$: At $E>E_c$, the most likely configuration of $V(x)$ is homogeneous, whereas at $E < E_c$ it is inhomogeneous, thus spontaneously breaking the translational symmetry of the problem. As a result, $s(E)$ is nonanalytic: Its second derivative jumps at $E=E_c$. We interpret this singularity as a second-order dynamical phase transition.