Quantum Phase Transition in a Clean Two-Dimensional Electron System

Abstract

A quantum phase transition that was recently observed in a high-mobility silicon MOSFET is analyzed in terms of a scaling theory. The most striking characteristic of the transition is a divergence of the thermopower, according to an inverse linear law, as a critical value of the electron density is approached. A scaling description of this transition yields predictions about the critical behavior of other observables, e.g., the specific heat. We also explore the possibility that this transition realizes a recently predicted transition from a Fermi liquid to a non-Fermi-liquid state.

4pp

References in corpus (5)

• Anderson Transitions
• Colloquium: Hidden Order, Superconductivity, and Magnetism -- The Unsolved Case of URu2Si2
• Critical Behavior of a Strongly Interacting 2D Electron System
• Quasiparticle effective mass divergence in two dimensional electron systems
• Theory of a Fermi-Liquid-to-Non-Fermi-Liquid Quantum Phase Transition in Dimensions d>1

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Critical Behavior of a Strongly Disordered 2D Electron System: The Cases of Long-Range and Screened Coulomb Interactions
• Scaling Theory of a Compressibility-Driven Metal-Insulator Transition in a Two-Dimensional Electron Fluid
• Impact of Short-Range Scattering on the Metallic Transport of Strongly Correlated 2D Holes in GaAs Quantum Wells
• Divergent Thermopower without a Quantum Phase Transition