From weak to strong disorder in Weyl semimetals: Self-consistent Born approximation

Abstract

We analyze theoretically the conductivity of Weyl semimetals within the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA) in the full range of disorder strength, from weak to strong disorder. In the range of intermediate disorder, we find a critical regime which separates the semimetal and diffusion regimes. While the numerical values of the critical exponents are not expected to be exact within the SCBA, the approach allows us to calculate functional dependences of various observables (density of states, quasiparticle broadening, conductivity) in a closed form. This sheds more light on the qualitative behavior of the conductivity and its universal features in disordered Weyl semimetals. In particular, we have found that the vertex corrections in the Kubo formula are of crucial importance in the regime of strong disorder and lead to saturation of the dc conductivity with increasing disorder strength. We have also analyzed the evolution of the optical conductivity with increasing disorder strength, including its scaling properties in the critical regime.