Delocalization in Coupled One-Dimensional Chains

A weakly disordered quasi-one-dimensional tight-binding hopping model with $N$ rows is considered. The probability distribution of the Landauer conductance is calculated exactly in the middle of the band, where $\varepsilon =0\mathrm{}$, and it is shown that a delocalization transition at this energy takes place if and only if $N$ is odd. This even-odd effect is explained by level repulsion of the transmission eigenvalues.