 Mobility edge

A mobility edge separates localized from extended energy eigenstates on the energy axis. Three-dimensional disordered models can have both. In the infinite one-dimensional tight-binding model with independent continuous random site energies, all states are localized for any nonzero disorder, with probability one. This statement excludes specially correlated disorder.^[ref]

A mobility edge is not a band gap: states can exist on both sides of $E_c$, but differ in spatial extent. For Electrons, the location of the Fermi energy relative to a mobility edge matters for low-temperature electrical conductivity. A three-dimensional sample need not have an extended interval at every disorder strength. In particular, the finite one-dimensional calculations below neither locate a three-dimensional mobility edge nor establish a nonzero universal critical disorder.