# Exact exponents for the spin quantum Hall transition

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## Abstract

We consider the spin quantum Hall transition which may occur in disordered superconductors with unbroken SU$`(2)`$ spin-rotation symmetry but broken time-reversal symmetry. Using supersymmetry, we map a model for this transition onto the two-dimensional percolation problem. The anisotropic limit is an sl$`(2|1)`$ supersymmetric spin chain. The mapping gives exact values for critical exponents associated with disorder-averages of several observables in good agreement with recent numerical results.

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Noninteracting electrons with disorder, and the ensuing metal-insulator transitions, have been studied for several decades, and are usually divided into just three classes by symmetry considerations. Recently, the ideas have been extended to quasiparticles in disordered superconductors, for which the particle number is not conserved at the mean field level. Several more symmetry classes have been found . One of these, denoted class C in Ref. , is of particular interest . This is the case in which time-reversal symmetry is broken but global SU(2) spin-rotation symmetry is not, and spin transport can be studied. In two dimensions (2D) it can occur in $`d`$-wave superconductors. Within class C, a delocalization transition is possible in which the quantized Hall conductivity for spin changes by two units, resembling the usual quantum Hall (QH) transition but in a different universality class. When a Zeeman term is introduced which breaks the SU(2) symmetry down to U(1), the transition splits into two that are each in the usual QH universality class.

In this paper we present exact results for a recent model  for the spin QH transition, in class C, in a system of noninteracting quasiparticles in 2D. We use a supersymmetry (SUSY) representation of such models, considered previously , to obtain a mapping onto the 2D classical bond percolation transition, from which we obtain three independent critical exponents, and universal ratios, exactly. An anisotropic version of the model is also mapped onto an antiferromagnetic sl$`(2|1)`$ SUSY  quantum spin chain. The results are in very good agreement with recent numerical simulations .

We study the spin QH transition in an alternative description that is obtained from the superconductor after a particle-hole transformation on the down-spin particles , which interchanges the roles of particle number and $`z`$-component of spin, and so particle number is conserved rather than spin. This makes it possible to use a single-particle description, at the cost of obscuring the SU(2) symmetry. The single-particle energy ($`E`$) spectrum has a particle-hole symmetry  under which $`EE`$, so when states are filled up to $`E=0`$, the positive-energy particle and hole excitations become doublets of the global SU(2) symmetry. In this picture, a (nonrandom) Zeeman term $`H`$ for the quasiparticles maps onto a simple shift in the Fermi energy to $`E=H`$ , splitting the degeneracy.

The model  is a network (generalizing Ref. ), in which a particle of either spin and with $`E=0`$, represented by a doublet of complex fluxes, can propagate in one direction along each link (Fig. 1). The propagation on each link is described by a random SU(2) scattering matrix (the black dot), with a uniform distribution over the SU(2) group; the absence of an additional random U(1) phase here is crucial and implies that the global SU(2) spin-rotation (or particle-hole) symmetry is unbroken. As in Ref. , there are two sublattices, A and B, on which the nodes are related by a 90 rotation. Scattering of the fluxes at the nodes (black squares) is described by orthogonal matrices diagonal in spin indices: $`𝒮_S=𝒮_S𝒮_S`$,

$$𝒮_{S\sigma }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}(1t_{S\sigma }^2)^{1/2}& t_{S\sigma }^{}\\ t_{S\sigma }^{}& (1t_{S\sigma }^2)^{1/2}\end{array}\right),$$
(1)   
where $`S=A`$, $`B`$ labels the sublattice and $`\sigma =`$, $``$ labels the spin direction. The network is spatially isotropic when the scattering amplitudes on the two sublattices are related by $`t_{A\sigma }^2+t_{B\sigma }^2=1.`$

The network has a multicritical point at $`t_{A\sigma }=t_{B\sigma }=2^{1/2}`$ (for the isotropic case). Taking $`t_{A\sigma }t_{B\sigma }`$ (but keeping $`t_S=t_S`$) drives the system through a QH transition between an insulator and a QH state, and the Hall conductance (now for charge) jumps from zero to 2. Making $`t_St_S`$ breaks the global SU(2) symmetry, and splits the transition into two ordinary QH transitions  each in the unitary class. As we will argue later, this perturbation is different from the uniform Zeeman term.

We briefly describe, for the present case, the main steps of the SUSY method for the network models . Transport and other properties of the network, such as its conductance, may be expressed in terms of sums over paths on the network. Such a sum may be written in second-quantized language as a correlation function, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{STr}(𝒯\mathrm{}U)`$ where the supertrace contains an evolution operator $`U`$ of an associated quantum 1D problem, $`𝒯`$ is a time-ordering symbol, and $`\mathrm{}`$ stands for operators that represent the ends of paths and correspond physically to density, current, etc. In this form, the average can be taken to obtain moments of physical quantities, and we leave this implicit in later notation. In this 1D problem vertical rows of links of the network become sites, and the vertical direction becomes (imaginary) time (we assume for the present periodic boundary conditions in both directions). The evolution operator $`U`$, composed of transfer matrices for links and nodes, acts in a tensor product of Fock spaces of bosons and fermions on each site. The presence of a fermion or boson on a link—i.e. on a site at an instant of discrete time—represents an element of a path traversing that link . Both bosons and fermions are needed to ensure the cancellation of contributions from closed loops. Usually one needs two types of bosons and fermions, retarded and advanced, to be able to obtain two-particle properties. However, the particle-hole symmetry relates retarded and advanced Green’s functions . Hence, for the study of mean values of simple observables, we need only one fermion and one boson per spin direction per site. (To study fluctuations and other observables, $`N`$ types of fermion and boson are needed, and the SUSY below becomes osp($`2N|2N`$) .) We denote them by $`f_\sigma `$, $`b_\sigma `$ for the sites related to the links going up (up-sites), and $`\overline{f}_\sigma `$, $`\overline{b}_\sigma `$ for the down-sites. On the up-sites, $`f_\sigma `$, $`b_\sigma `$ are canonical, but to ensure the cancellation of closed loops we must either take the fermions on the down-sites to satisfy $`\{\overline{f}_\sigma ^{},\overline{f}_\sigma ^{}^{}\}=\delta _{\sigma \sigma ^{}}`$, or similarly for the bosons.

To begin, we consider the spin-rotation invariant case with $`t_S=t_S=t_S`$. In this case, for any realization of the disorder in the scattering matrices, the transfer matrices commute with the sum over sites of the eight generators (superspin operators) of the superalgebra sl$`(2|1)`$ osp$`(2|2)`$, similarly to Ref. . The generators for each site are constructed as all bilinears in the fermions and bosons and their adjoints, which are singlets under the random SU(2). These are denoted by  $`B`$, $`Q_3`$, $`Q_\pm `$, $`V_\pm `$, $`W_\pm `$, and have similar expressions for the two types of sites. Cancellation of closed loops would only require invariance under the gl$`(1|1)`$ subalgebra generated by $`B`$, $`Q_3`$, $`V_{}`$, and $`W_+`$. The larger SUSY that exists when $`t_S=t_S`$ is a manifestation of the global SU(2) symmetry.

The transfer matrix describing the evolution on a link, after averaging over the random SU(2) matrices, projects the states on the corresponding site to a three-dimensional subspace of singlets of the random SU(2). On the up-sites these form the fundamental representation 3 of sl$`(2|1)`$, and we denote them as $`|m`$, $`m=0`$, $`1`$, $`2`$. Similarly, on the down-sites the three singlet states form the representation $`\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}}`$, dual to 3, and we call them $`|\overline{m}`$; $`m`$ is the number of fermions on a site of either type. We find that $`|\overline{1}`$ has negative squared norm, $`\overline{1}|\overline{1}=1`$, while the others are positive. Thus, after averaging, we have a horizontal chain of sites with alternating dual representations on the two sublattices and a discrete-time evolution along the vertical direction given by the transfer matrices at the nodes, which will be specified below.

We now consider in detail the node transfer matrix $`T_S`$ on a single node on sublattice $`S`$. After the averaging, it acts in the tensor product $`\mathrm{𝟑}\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}}`$ for the two sites. Because of the sl$`(2|1)`$ SUSY, we find that it takes the form

$$T_S=t_S^2P_\mathrm{𝟏}+(1t_S^2)I\overline{I}.$$
(2)   
Here the first term contains the projection operator $`P_\mathrm{𝟏}=|ss|`$ onto the normalized singlet state $`|s=_m|m|\overline{m},`$ while in the second term $`I`$, $`\overline{I}`$ are the identity operators on the two sites (note that $`\overline{I}=|\overline{0}\overline{0}||\overline{1}\overline{1}|+|\overline{2}\overline{2}|`$). The two terms in $`T_S`$ represent the two ways to sl$`(2|1)`$-invariantly couple the in- and out-going states at the node, such that the incoming state (in the fundamental representation $`\mathrm{𝟑}`$) flows out unchanged, turning either to the right or the left. They can be represented graphically as shown at the top in Fig. 2.

When we multiply the transfer matrices together and take the supertrace in the tensor product of all sites to calculate the partition function $`Z=\mathrm{STr}U`$, the result is given by the sum of all contributions of closed loops that fill the links of the network, weighted by factors of either $`t_S^2`$ or $`(1t_S^2)`$ for each node. Each loop contributes a factor coming from the sum over the three states that can propagate around the loop, the supertrace $`\mathrm{str}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}=1`$ taken in the fundamental $`\mathrm{𝟑}`$. It is also clear that $`Z`$ is equal to 1, as it is also before averaging.

The sum over loops on the links of the network is equivalent to the bond percolation problem on the square lattice, as follows. In Fig. 2, we shade one-half of the plaquettes of the network in checkerboard fashion. The two terms in $`T_S`$ possible at each node either do or do not connect the shaded plaquettes, as indicated by the thick undirected line segments. At each $`A`$\- (respectively, $`B`$-) node we have a horizontal (vertical) line with probability $`p_A=t_A^2`$ ($`p_B=1t_B^2`$). Then on the square lattice formed by the shaded plaquettes we have the classical bond percolation problem, and the loops are the boundaries (or “hulls”) of the percolation clusters. This SUSY representation of percolation easily generalizes to sl$`(n+1|n)`$ SUSY, $`n1`$, using the $`2n+1`$-dimensional fundamental representation and its dual.

Many critical exponents for 2D percolation are known exactly. First, there is the correlation length exponent, which immediately gives the localization length for the spin QH transition,

$$\xi |p_Sp_{Sc}|^\nu ,$$
(3)   
with $`\nu =4/3`$ ; the critical values are $`p_{Ac}=p_{Bc}=1/2`$ in the isotropic case. Then, because the basic operators of our system are the superspins, which act on the states that live on the hulls of the percolation clusters, we should consider the exponents associated with these hulls. These include an infinite set of scaling dimensions for the so-called $`n`$-hull operators ,

$$x_n=(4n^21)/12.$$
(4)   
The exponent $`x_n`$ describes the spatial decay at criticality $`|r_1r_2|^{2x_n}`$ of the probability that $`n`$ distinct hulls each pass close to each of the two points $`r_1`$ and $`r_2`$. There is also a set of analogous exponents for the same correlators near a boundary ,

$$\stackrel{~}{x}_n=n(2n1)/3.$$
(5)   
We will now relate further physical quantities within our model to percolation exponents, through the SUSY mapping. We write the superspins as a single 8-component object $`J`$ for either up- or down-sites. These can be inserted in any links of the network, to obtain a correlator such as $`Q_3(r_1)Q_3(r_2)`$, where $`r_1`$ and $`r_2`$ represent links of the network. Then using the same graphical expansion, we obtain a sum over loop configurations, now with the positions of the insertions marked on the loops, and for loops with insertions, the factor 1 is replaced by a supertrace (in the fundamental) of the product of matrices that represent the $`J`$’s inserted. We then require only the total probabilities that loops pass through the marked points in various ways. The simplest example is a two-point function of $`J`$’s, which is nonvanishing only if the $`J`$’s are on the same loop, because $`\mathrm{str}J=0`$ for all components of $`J`$. The leading term in the probability that the two points are on the same loop (hull) is governed by the leading $`1`$-hull operator in the continuum theory , giving

$$(1)^{i_1+i_2}J(r_1)J(r_2)|r_1r_2|^{2x_1},$$
(6)   
at the transition, where $`x_1=1/4`$ as specified above. The reason for the staggering factors $`(1)^{i_1}`$, where $`i_1`$ is the site corresponding to $`r_1`$, will become clear momentarily.

It is useful to consider the anisotropic limit of the model. This is defined by $`t_A`$, $`t_B0`$ with a fixed ratio $`t_A/t_B=ϵ`$. Then the transfer matrices $`T_S`$ may be expanded in $`t_S`$ and recombined in the exponential. The evolution operator has the form $`U\mathrm{exp}(2t_At_B𝑑\tau _{\text{1D}})`$, where the effective Hamiltonian $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$ describes a 1D superspin chain, with alternating $`\mathrm{𝟑}`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}}`$ representations, and continuous imaginary time $`\tau `$:

$$_{1\mathrm{D}}=_i\left(ϵJ_{2i1}J_{2i}+ϵ^1J_{2i}J_{2i+1}\right).$$
(7)   
Here $`JJ`$ denotes the sl$`(2|1)`$ invariant product . The transition point, where $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$ for an infinitely-long chain is gapless, is now at $`ϵ=1`$. The two-site version of $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$ appeared in Ref. .

The sum $`_iJ_i`$ is the generator of global SUSY transformations, and so $`J_i`$, viewed as a function of $`i`$, is the superspin density on the lattice, which gives a subleading contribution $`r^2`$ to the $`J`$-$`J`$ correlation at criticality. The 1-hull operator must therefore be the staggered part, $`(1)^iJ_i`$.

The 1-hull operators represented by $`(1)^iJ_i`$ have several physical applications. Components such as $`Q_+=f_{}^{}f_{}^{}`$ on the up-sites create fermions, so produce ends for the quasiparticle paths. The sum of all such paths between $`r_1`$ and $`r_2`$ represents the quasiparticle Green’s function, $`G`$. To obtain nonzero results on averaging, we must multiply the retarded and advanced Green’s functions before averaging, but this can be replaced by a spin-singlet combination of our fermions or bosons . The staggered part of this averaged correlator represents the average zero-frequency density-density (“diffusion”) propagator $`\overline{|G|^2}`$ (and also the average conductance between two point-contacts ), which therefore falls as $`|r_1r_2|^{1/2}`$ at the transition. Moreover, the local density of states $`\rho (r,E)`$ is represented by another component of the 1-hull operator, because both it and the density operator contain wavefunctions squared, $`|\psi |^2`$, in the original problem and so scale in the same way. The energy $`E`$ itself (set to zero hitherto) has scaling dimension $`y_1=2x_1`$ because an imaginary part $`\eta `$ of $`E`$ induces a staggered “magnetic field” term $`_i\eta \rho _i(i\eta )`$ in $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$. Hence for the average we have at criticality

$$\overline{\rho (r,E)}|E|^{x_1/y_1}=|E|^{1/7}.$$
(8)   
Also, since a uniform Zeeman term $`H`$ causes a shift in the Fermi energy, it induces a correlation length $`\xi _H|H|^{\nu _1}`$, where $`\nu _1=1/y_1=4/7`$.

We have already identified the value $`\nu =4/3`$ of the localization length exponent $`\nu `$ with that in percolation. In terms of $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$, the effect of a small deviation $`\delta ϵ1`$ is to add the perturbation $`\delta _i(1)^iJ_iJ_{i+1}`$ to the critical $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$. This term contains the dimer operator $`D_i=(1)^iJ_iJ_{i+1}`$, which is odd under reflection through any lattice site (parity). The scaling dimension $`x_2`$ of the 2-hull operator is the same as that of this “thermal” perturbation for the transition, that is $`\nu =\nu _2=1/y_2`$, $`y_2=2x_2`$ . We therefore expect that the 2-hull operator is part of a multiplet of staggered two-superspin operators, that are similar to $`D_i`$, but are not all sl$`(2|1)`$ singlets.

As a final perturbation of the critical Hamiltonian, we consider the effect of $`t_St_S`$. This breaks the global SU(2) symmetry, and breaks the SUSY to gl$`(1|1)`$. Taking $`t_{A\sigma }=t_{B\sigma }`$, we find that the effect is to add to $`_{1\mathrm{D}}`$ a term $`(t_{}t_{})^2_i\widehat{J}_i\widehat{J}_{i+1},`$ where $`\widehat{J}_i`$ is the 4-component set of generators of gl$`(1|1)`$, and the product is invariant under this algebra. This term is an anisotropy in superspin space. The two QH transitions it produces  cannot be seen in our formulation without explicitly introducing both retarded and advanced fermions and bosons, and we will see only exponentially decaying correlations. The correlation length $`\xi _\mathrm{\Delta }`$ induced by $`\mathrm{\Delta }=t_{}t_{}`$ scales as

$$\xi _\mathrm{\Delta }|\mathrm{\Delta }|^\mu ,$$
(9)   
in the notation of Ref. , for small $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. If the spin anisotropy $`\widehat{J}_i\widehat{J}_{i+1}`$ has dimension $`x^{}`$, then we will have $`\mu =2/(2x^{})`$. The operator does not appear to be the 1-hull operator, and has the opposite parity to the 2-hull. However, the operator product of two 1-hull operators has the correct parity and might contain this operator. In conformal field theory, the 1-hull operator can be represented by $`\varphi _{2,2}`$ in the Kac classification of $`c=0`$ Virasoro representations. The fusion rules for this primary field with itself contain the leading nontrivial operator $`\varphi _{1,3}`$, which we view as a subleading 1-hull operator, with scaling dimension $`\widehat{x}_1=2h_{1,3}=2/3`$. We suggest that $`x^{}=\widehat{x}_1=2/3`$, which yields $`\mu =3/2`$. We further suggest that this operator describes a random Zeeman term (with zero mean).

Finally, we note that the average two-probe conductance of our system with open ends , and with $`t_S=t_S`$, can be related to the number $`n`$ of hulls that connect one end to the other (and back). Each such configuration of loops contributes $`n`$ to the conductance, times $`2`$ for spin, so the mean conductance has the scaling form

$$\overline{g}=2\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}nP(n,L/W,L/\xi ),$$
(10)   
where $`P(n,L/W,L/\xi )`$ is the probability that exactly $`n`$ hulls run from one end to the other and back, for a system of size $`L`$ by $`W`$. This can be considered both for periodic and reflecting transverse boundary conditions. At the transition, $`\xi =\mathrm{}`$, and for large $`L/W`$, it is known  that $`P(n,L/W,0)e^{2\pi x_nL/W}`$ for periodic, and $`e^{\pi \stackrel{~}{x}_nL/W}`$ for reflecting boundaries. The sum for $`\overline{g}`$ is dominated by the $`n=1`$ term in this limit, so it has the form $`\overline{g}e^{L/\xi _{1\mathrm{D}}}`$, giving the behavior of the localization length $`\xi _{1\mathrm{D}}`$, the only parameter that enters in the complete distribution of conductance in this limit . As $`L/W0`$, we expect that $`\overline{g}W/L`$, implying that there is a nonzero critical conductivity.

We may now compare our results with those of recent numerical work. In Ref. , the results obtained were $`\nu 1.12`$ and $`\mu 1.45`$. These are in fair agreement with our predictions, especially for $`\mu `$ where our theoretical argument is less well established. The authors of Ref.  study the SUSY spin chain numerically, and find critical exponents $`x_1=0.26\pm 0.02`$ and $`x_2=1.24\pm 0.01`$, in excellent agreement with our predictions.

To conclude, we have used SUSY methods to find a remarkable equivalence of a quasiparticle localization problem, the spin quantum Hall transition, to 2D percolation, resulting in the exact values of three exponents, and the universal ratios for the localization length in the 1D limit.

We are grateful to T. Senthil, J. B. Marston, and M. P. A. Fisher for useful discussions, and for sharing numerical results before publication. We also thank J. Chalker, V. Gurarie and M. Zirnbauer for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the NSF under grants No. PHY94-07194, DMR-9528578 (IAG), DMR-9157484 (NR), and in part by the A. P. Sloan Foundation (AWWL).