Finite temperature transport at the superconductor-insulator transition in disordered systems

Abstract

I argue that the incoherent, zero-frequency limit of the universal crossover function in the temperature-dependent conductivity at the superconductor-insulator transition in disordered systems may be understood as an analytic function of dimensionality of system d, with a simple pole at d=1. Combining the exact result for the crossover function in d=1 with the recursion relations in d=1+\epsilon, the leading term in the Laurent series in the small parameter \epsilon for this quantity is computed for the systems of disordered bosons with short-range and Coulomb interactions. The universal, low-temperature, dc critical conductivity for the dirty boson system with Coulomb interaction in d=2 is estimated to be 0.69 (2e)^2 /h, in relatively good agreement with many experiments on thin films. The next order correction is likely to somewhat increase the result, possibly bringing it closer to the self-dual value.