Wigner solid or Anderson solid -- 2D electrons in strong disorder

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Authors: Aryaman Babbar, Zijian Li, S. Das Sarma
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Critically analyzing recent STM and transport experiments [Z. Ge, et al, arXiv:2510.12009] on 2D electron systems in the presence of random quenched impurities, we argue that the resulting low-density putative "solid" phase reported experimentally is better described as an Anderson solid with the carriers randomly spatially localized by impurities than as a Wigner solid where the carriers form a crystal due to an interaction-induced spontaneous breaking of the translational symmetry. In strongly disordered systems, the resulting solid is amorphous, which is adiabatically connected to the infinite disorder Anderson fixed point rather than the zero disorder Wigner crystal fixed point.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Quantum and electron transport phenomena Topological Materials and Phenomena Surface and Thin Film Phenomena

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
7 January 2026
Document type
Preprint