Theories of low-energy quasi-particle states in disordered d-wave superconductors

被引:128
作者
Altland, A
Simons, BD
Zirnbauer, MR
机构
[1] Cavendish Lab, Cambridge CB3 0HE, England
[2] Ruhr Univ Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
[3] Univ Cologne, Inst Theoret Phys, D-50937 Cologne, Germany
来源
PHYSICS REPORTS-REVIEW SECTION OF PHYSICS LETTERS | 2002年 / 359卷 / 04期
关键词
D O I
10.1016/S0370-1573(01)00065-5
中图分类号
O4 [物理学];
学科分类号
0702 ;
摘要
The physics of low-energy quasi-particle excitations in disordered d-wave superconductors is a subject of ongoing intensive research. Over the last decade, a variety of conceptually and methodologically different approaches to the problem have been developed. Unfortunately, many of these theories contradict each other, and the current literature displays a lack of consensus on even the most basic physical observables. Adopting a symmetry-oriented approach, the present paper attempts to identify the origin of the disagreement between various previous approaches, and to develop a coherent theoretical description of the different low-energy regimes realized in weakly disordered d-wave superconductors. We show that, depending on the presence or absence of time-reversal invariance and the microscopic nature of the impurities, the system falls into one of four different symmetry classes. By employing a field-theoretical formalism, we derive effective descriptions of these universal regimes as descendants of a common parent field theory of Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten type. As well as describing the properties of each universal regime, we analyse a number of physically relevant crossover scenarios, and discuss reasons for the disagreement between previous results. We also touch upon other aspects of the phenomenology of the d-wave superconductor such as quasi-particle localization properties, the spin quantum Hall effect, and the quasi-particle physics of the disordered vortex lattice. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:283 / 354
页数:72
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