Mott-glass phase of a one-dimensional quantum fluid with long-range interactions

Abstract

We investigate the ground-state properties of quantum particles interacting via a long-range repulsive potential ${\cal V}_\sigma(x)\sim 1/|x|^{1+\sigma}$ ($-1<\sigma$) or ${\cal V}_\sigma(x)\sim -|x|^{-1-\sigma}$ ($-2\leq \sigma <-1$) that interpolates between the Coulomb potential ${\cal V}_0(x)$ and the linearly confining potential ${\cal V}_{-2}(x)$ of the Schwinger model. In the absence of disorder the ground state is a Wigner crystal when $\sigma\leq 0$. Using bosonization and the nonperturbative functional renormalization group we show that any amount of disorder suppresses the Wigner crystallization when $-3/2<\sigma\leq 0$; the ground state is then a Mott glass, i.e., a state that has a vanishing compressibility and a gapless optical conductivity. For $\sigma<-3/2$ the ground state remains a Wigner crystal.