On the thermal broadening of a quantum critical phase transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates how temperature affects the quantum critical phase transition in the integer Quantum Hall effect, revealing a universal thermal broadening behavior influenced by the Fermi-Dirac distribution.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the temperature dependence follows a specific scaling law at low temperatures and a linear trend at higher temperatures, linking thermal broadening to the Fermi-Dirac distribution.

Findings

Low-temperature scaling behavior with exponent κ

Linear temperature dependence at higher temperatures

Thermal broadening explained by Fermi-Dirac distribution

Abstract

The temperature dependence of an integer Quantum Hall effect transition is studied in a sample where the disorder is dominated by short-ranged potential scattering. At low temperatures the results are consistent with a $(T/T_0)^{\kappa}$ scaling behaviour and at higher temperatures by a linear dependence similar to that reported in other material systems. It is shown that the linear behaviour results from thermal broadening produced by the Fermi-Dirac distribution function and that the temperature dependence over the whole range depends only on the scaling parameter T$_0^{\kappa}$.