Statistics and Scaling in Disordered Mesoscopic Electron Systems

This review is intended to give a pedagogical and unified view on the subject of the statistics and scaling of physical quantities in disordered electron systems at very low temperatures. Quantum coherence at low temperatures and randomness of microscopic details can cause large fluctuations of physical quantities. In such mesoscopic systems a localization-delocalization transition can occur which forms a critical phenomenon. Accordingly, a one-parameter scaling theory was formulated stressing the role of conductance as the (oneparameter) scaling variable. The localized and delocalized phases are separated by a critical point determined by a critical value of conductance. However, the notion of an order parameter was not fully clarified in this theory. The one-parameter scaling theory has been questioned once it was noticed that physical quantities are broadly distributed and that average values are not characteristic for the distributions. Based on presently available analytical and numerical results we focus here on the description of the total distribution functions and their flow with increasing system size. Still, one-parameter scaling theory does work in terms of typical values of the local density of states and of the conductance which serve as order parameter and scaling variable of the localization-delocalization transition, respectively. Below a certain length scale, ξc, related to the value of the typical conductance, local quantities are multifractally distributed. This multifractal behavior becomes universal on approaching the localization-delocalization transition with ξc playing the role of a correlation length. PACS numbers: 71.23.An; 71.30.+h; 72.80.Ng; 73.23.-b