Transport in a spin incoherent Luttinger liquid

TL;DR

This paper explores how electron transport behaves in a one-dimensional spin incoherent Luttinger liquid, considering effects of disorder, finite size, and lead attachments, revealing a phase diagram similar to spinless systems and a crossover between regimes.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of transport in spin incoherent Luttinger liquids, including effects of disorder, finite length, and lead coupling, and identifies a phase diagram analogous to spinless Luttinger liquids.

Findings

Infinite system phase diagram matches spinless Luttinger Liquid with g=2g_c

Transport in finite wires depends on disorder details

Crossover from spin incoherent to spin coherent regime discussed

Abstract

We theoretically investigate transport in a spin incoherent one dimensional electron system, which may be realized in quantum wires at low electron density and finite temperature. Both the pure and disordered cases are considered, both in finite wires and in the thermodynamic limit. The effect of Fermi liquid leads attached to the finite length system is also addressed. In the infinite system, we find a phase diagram identical to that obtained for a spinless Luttinger Liquid, provided we make the identification $g=2g_c$, where $g$ is the interaction parameter in a spinless Luttinger Liquid and $g_c$ is the interaction parameter of the charge sector of a Luttinger Liquid theory for electrons with spin. For a finite length wire attached to Fermi liquid leads the transport depends on details of the disorder in the wire. A simple picture for the cross-over from the spin incoherent regime to the spin coherent regime as the temperature is varied is also discussed, as well as some physical implications.