2000/01/21 by D. Menashe, Menashe, D., O. Biham +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0001308
10 pages, 3 ps figures, submitted to EuroPhys. Lett
arxiv created 2000/01/21 · openalex publication_date 2000/01/21 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a computer simulation study of a disordered two-dimensional system of localized interacting electrons at thermal equilibrium. It is shown that the configuration of occupied sites within the Coulomb gap persistently changes at temperatures much less than the gap width. This is accompanied by large time dependent fluctuations of the site energies. The observed thermal equilibration at low temperatures suggests a possible glass transition only at T=0. We interpret the strong fluctuations in the occupation numbers and site energies in terms of the drift of the system between multiple energy minima. The results also imply that interacting electrons may be effectively delocalized within the Coulomb gap. Insulating properties, such as hopping conduction, appear as a result of long equilibration times associated with glassy dynamics. This may shine new light on the relation between the metal-insulator transition and glassy behavior.