Comment on 'Anomalous Conductance Distribution in Q1D Gold Wires: Possible Violation of the One-Parameter Scaling Hypothesis' [PRL 88, 146601 (2002)]

Abstract

Mohanty and Webb [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 146601 (2002), cond-mat/0204298] claim that their data on conductance fluctuations in gold wires contradict the one-parameter scaling. We show that flaws in extracting values of the cumulants (irreducible moments) <<g^n>> of the conductance distribution (for n=3,4) invalidate all the conclusions made there. The actual values of the cumulants determined by us from the published raw data contained in Ref. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 146601 (2002)] are orders of magnitude smaller than those claimed. Moreover, the limited applicability of the ergodicity hypothesis makes the higher order cumulants extracted from magnetofingerprints statistically unreliable. Thus, the data of Ref. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 146601 (2002)] do not warrant any statement on the violation or validity of the one-parameter scaling.

This is a revised version, where a misprint has been corrected and an explicit footnote added, helping the interested reader to make a visual inspection of the data in the commented Letter by P. Mohanty and R.A. Webb, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 146601 (2002); cond-mat/0204298