Mott-Glass Phase of a One-Dimensional Quantum Fluid with Long-Range Interactions

Phys Rev Lett. 2020 Dec 4;125(23):235301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.235301.

Abstract

We investigate the ground-state properties of quantum particles interacting via a long-range repulsive potential V_{σ}(x)∼1/|x|^{1+σ} (-1<σ) or V_{σ}(x)∼-|x|^{-1-σ} (-2≤σ<-1) that interpolates between the Coulomb potential V_{0}(x) and the linearly confining potential V_{-2}(x) of the Schwinger model. In the absence of disorder the ground state is a Wigner crystal when σ≤0. Using bosonization and the nonperturbative functional renormalization group we show that any amount of disorder suppresses the Wigner crystallization when -3/2<σ≤0; the ground state is then a Mott glass, i.e., a state that has a vanishing compressibility and a gapless optical conductivity. For σ<-3/2 the ground state remains a Wigner crystal.