Nonlinear screening and percolative transition in a two-dimensional electron liquid

A variational method is proposed for calculating the percolation threshold, the real-space structure, and the ground-state energy of a disordered two-dimensional electron liquid. Its high accuracy is verified against exact asymptotics and prior numerical results. The inverse thermodynamical density of states is shown to have a strongly asymmetric minimum at a density that is approximately the triple of the percolation threshold. This implies that the experimentally observed metal-insulator transition takes place well before the percolation point is reached.