Density of states for the $\pi$-flux state with bipartite real random hopping only: A weak disorder approach

Abstract

Gade [R. Gade, Nucl. Phys. B \textbf{398}, 499 (1993)] has shown that the local density of states for a particle hopping on a two-dimensional bipartite lattice in the presence of weak disorder and in the absence of time-reversal symmetry(chiral unitary universality class) is anomalous in the vicinity of the band center $\epsilon=0$ whenever the disorder preserves the sublattice symmetry. More precisely, using a nonlinear-sigma-model that encodes the sublattice (chiral) symmetry and the absence of time-reversal symmetry she argues that the disorder average local density of states diverges as $|\epsilon|^{-1}\exp(-c|\ln\epsilon|^\kappa)$ with $c$ some non-universal positive constant and $\kappa=1/2$ a universal exponent. Her analysis has been extended to the case when time-reversal symmetry is present (chiral orthogonal universality class) for which the same exponent $\kappa=1/2$ was predicted. Motrunich \textit{et al.} [O. Motrunich, K. Damle, and D. A. Huse, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{65}, 064206 (2001)] have argued that the exponent $\kappa=1/2$ does not apply to the typical density of states in the chiral orthogonal universality class. They predict that $\kappa=2/3$ instead. We confirm the analysis of Motrunich \textit{et al.} within a field theory for two flavors of Dirac fermions subjected to two types of weak uncorrelated random potentials: a purely imaginary vector potential and a complex valued mass potential. This model is believed to belong to the chiral orthogonal universality class. Our calculation relies in an essential way on the existence of infinitely many local composite operators with negative anomalous scaling dimensions.