(Received 27 April 1999)

Asimple noninteracting-electron model, combining local quantum tunneling and global classicalpercolation (due to a finite dephasing time at low temperatures),is introduced to describe a metal-insulator transition in two dimensions.It is shown that many features of the experiments, suchas the exponential dependence of the resistance on temperature inthe metallic phase, the linear dependence of the exponent ondensity, the e²/h scale of the critical resistance, the quenching of the metallic phase by a parallel magnetic field, and the nonmonotonic dependence of the critical density on a perpendicular magnetic field, can be explained by the model. ©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://mirror.publish.aps.org/abstract/prl/v83/p3506
PACS: 71.30.+h, 73.40.Qv, 73.50.Jt

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References

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