c-Theorem for disordered systems Original Research Article

We find an analog of Zamolodchikovʹs c-theorem for disordered two-dimensional non-interacting systems in their supersymmetric field theory representation. We show that the energy momentum tensor of such field theories must be a part of a supermultiplet, and that a new parameter b can be introduced with the help of that multiplet. b flows along the renormalization group trajectories much like the central charge for unitary two-dimensional field theories. While it has not been established if this flow is irreversible, that is, if b always flows down to lower values, it does so for all the cases worked out so far. b gives a new way to label different conformal field theories for disordered systems whose central charge is always 0. b turns out to be related to the central extension of a certain algebra, a generalization of the Virasoro algebra, which we show may be present at the critical points of these theories. b is also related to the finite size corrections of the physical free energy of disordered systems. We discuss possible applications by computing b for two-dimensional Dirac fermions with random gauge potential, in other words, for U(1∣1) Kac-Moody algebra.