2005/10/13 by Alexander Punnoose, Alexander M. Finkel’stein, Alexander M. Finkel'stein · 7 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1115660
published as Science 310, 289 (2005)
openalex publication_date 2005/10/13 · arxiv created 2005/11/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a theory of the metal-insulator transition in a disordered two-dimensional electron gas. A quantum critical point, separating the metallic phase, which is stabilized by electronic interactions, from the insulating phase, where disorder prevails over the electronic interactions, has been identified. The existence of the quantum critical point leads to a divergence in the density of states of the underlying collective modes at the transition, causing the thermodynamic properties to behave critically as the transition is approached. We show that the interplay of electron-electron interactions and disorder can explain the observed transport properties and the anomalous enhancement of the spin susceptibility near the metal-insulator transition.