Entanglement in disordered superfluids: the impact of density, interaction and harmonic confinement on the Superconductor-Insulator transition

Abstract

We investigate the influence of density, interaction and harmonic confinement on the superfluid to insulator transition (SIT) in disordered fermionic superfluids described by the one-dimensional Hubbard model. We quantify the ground-state single-site entanglement via density-functional theory calculations of the linear entropy. We analyze the critical concentration $C_C$ at which the fully-localized state $-$ a special type of localization, with null entanglement $-$ emerges. We find that $C_C$ is independent on the interaction, but demands a minimum disorder strength to occur. We then derive analytical relations for $C_C$ as a function of the average particle density for attractive and repulsive disorder. Our results reveal that weak harmonic confinement does not impact the properties of the fully-localized state, which occurs at the same $C_C$, but stronger confinements may lead the system from the fully-localized state to the ordinary localization.

6 pages, 4 figures