Spatially-resolved dynamics of the amplitude Schmid-Higgs mode in disordered superconductors

Abstract

We investigate the spatially-resolved dynamics of the collective amplitude Schmid-Higgs (SH) mode in disordered Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors and fermionic superfluids. We identify cases where the long-time SH response is determined by a pole in the averaged SH susceptibility, located on the unphysical sheet of its Riemann surface. Using analytic continuation across the two-particle branch cut, we obtain the zero-temperature dispersion relation and damping rate of the SH mode linked to this pole. When the coherence length significantly exceeds the mean free path, the pole is ``hidden'' behind the two-particle continuum edge at $2\Delta$, leading to SH oscillations at late times decaying as $1/t^2$ with frequency $2\Delta$. Nevertheless, the pole induces a peak in the retarded SH susceptibility at a frequency above $2\Delta$ and causes sub-diffusive oscillations with a dynamical exponent $z=4$ at both late times and long distances. Conversely, long-distance oscillations at a fixed frequency $\omega$ occur only for $\omega$ exceeding $2\Delta$, with a spatial period diverging at the threshold as $1/(\omega - 2\Delta)^{1/4}$, up to logarithmic factors. When the coherence length is comparable to the mean free path, the pole can reemerge into the continuum, resulting in additional late-time oscillations at fixed wave vectors with frequencies above $2\Delta$.