Support set of random wave-functions on the Bethe lattice

Abstract

We introduce a new measure of ergodicity, the support set $S_\varepsilon$, for random wave functions on disordered lattices. It is more sensitive than the traditional inverse participation ratios and their moments in the cases where the extended state is very sparse. We express the typical support set $S_{\varepsilon}$ in terms of the distribution function of the wave function amplitudes and illustrate the scaling of $S_{\varepsilon}\propto N^{\alpha}$ with $N$ (the lattice size) for the most general case of the multi-fractal distribution. A number of relationships between the new exponent $\alpha$ and the conventional spectrum of multi-fractal dimensions is established. These relationships are tested by numerical study of statistics of wave functions on disordered Bethe lattices. We also obtain numerically the finite-size spectrum of fractal dimensions on the Bethe lattice which shows two apparent fixed points as $N$ increases. The results allow us to conjecture that extended states on the Bethe lattice at all strengths of disorder below the localization transition are non-ergodic with a clear multifractal structure that evolves towards almost ergodic behavior in the clean limit.