Magnetic properties of strongly disordered electronic systems

Abstract

We present a unified global perspective on the magnetic properties of strongly disordered electronic systems, with special emphasis on the case where the ground state is metallic. We review the arguments for the instability of the disordered Fermi liquid state towards the formation of local magnetic moments, and argue that their singular low temperature thermodynamics are the 'quantum Griffiths' precursors of the quantum phase transition to a metallic spin glass; the local moment formation is therefore not directly related to the metal-insulator transition. We also review the mean-field theory of the disordered Fermi liquid to metallic spin glass transition and describe the separate regime of 'non-Fermi liquid' behaviour at higher temperatures near the quantum critical point. The relationship to experimental results on doped semiconductors and heavy-fermion compounds is noted.