Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless localization-localization transitions in disordered two-dimensional quantized quadrupole insulators

Abstract: Anderson localization transitions are usually referred to as quantum phase transitions from delocalized states to localized states in disordered systems. Here we report an unconventional ``Anderson localization transition'' in two-dimensional quantized quadrupole insulators. Such transitions are from symmetry-protected topological corner states to disorder-induced normal Anderson localized states that can be localized in the bulk, as well as at corners and edges. We show that these localization-localization transitions (transitions between two different localized states) can happen in both Hermitian and non-Hermitian quantized quadrupole insulators and investigate their criticality by finite-size scaling analysis of the corner density. The scaling analysis suggests that the correlation length of the phase transition, on the Anderson insulator side and near critical disorder $W_c$, diverges as $\xi(W)\propto \exp[\alpha/\sqrt{|W-W_c|}]$, a typical feature of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions. A map from the quantized quadrupole model to the quantum two-dimensional $XY$ model motivates why the localization-localization transitions are Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type.