All Questions
Tagged with topological-insulators topological-phase
98
questions
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What is the Haldane gap?
The Haldane Phase is a topological phase of matter in which a Haldane gap opens due to the breaking of either time-reversal symmetry or inversion symmetry. Physically speaking, what is the "...
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0
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37
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How to numerically calculate Zak phase for SSH3 model?
The k-space hamiltonian of SSH3 model with nearest neighbour hopping is given by H(k)= \begin{bmatrix}
0 & u & w e^{-ika} \\
u & 0 & v \\
w e^{ika} & v & 0
\end{bmatrix}
...
3
votes
1
answer
166
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Is there a Majorana representation for toric code
Kitaev's toric code is known to be the Z2 gauge field theory, which suggests that there might exists a Majorana representation for the toric code, e.g., Majorana + Z2 gauge field. Hence, I wonder if ...
- 81
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0
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42
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Dealing with discontinuous phase issue in computing winding number numerically
Consider a 1D SSH model with winding number given by
$$\nu = \frac{1}{2\pi i}\int_{-\pi}^\pi d\phi,$$
where $d\phi$ is the change in phase of the eigenvectors between nearby $k$ points. The phase is ...
- 101
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1
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118
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Time reversal in a two-band system
Suppose I have a 3D system of spinless fermions described by the following two-band model Hamiltonian:
$$
H(\vec{k})=\vec{d}(\vec{k}) \cdot \vec{\sigma}
$$
where $\vec{d}=\left(-\sin k_{x},-\sin k_{y},...
- 43
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1
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69
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Sublattice symmetry and the Fermi level
I am a math student who is learning topological phases from this website.
Let's assume the fermi level is zero. For the graphene, the sublattice symmetry $\sigma_z H \sigma_z = -H$ makes the ...
- 125
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63
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Topological Insulators with different spin band
To obtain a topological band insulator, we usually start with two bands with either spin up or down. If these bands now get 'inverted', they will cross. When there is coupling of these two bands such ...
- 137
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29
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Topological Insulator [closed]
What effect on the Brillouin zone (torus) after applying the magnetic field? As in real space, pressure deforms the torus and up to a certain pressure, this remains invariant topologically. Similar to ...
3
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0
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75
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Infinite stacking of integer quantum Hall systems
Let us consider a (3+1)-dimensional system $\mathcal{H}$ constructed by stacking (2+1)-dimensional integer quantum Hall systems $\mathcal{H}_\text{Hall}$, e.g., $E_8$ bosonic systems (or $\sigma_H=1$ ...
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242
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Topological phase and Chern number
the relation between topological phase and Chern numbers is unclear to me.
For Haldane model if the Chern numbers of its two bands go from (+1,-1) to (0,0), we say that it goes from topological phase ...
- 41
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131
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Berry phase from Bloch wave functions in the basis of Wannier functions
The formulate to calculate berry phase for Bloch wave functions is
$$
\gamma = i \sum_{n\in occ}\int_{\mathcal{C}} dk \langle \psi_k^n|\partial_k|\psi_k^n\rangle,
$$
where $|\psi_k^n\rangle$ is a ...
- 337
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2
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282
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Edge state protection in Chern insulator
I have a confusion about the nature of topologically protected boundary states in the Chern insulator. Since the Chern insulator does not require any symmetries to be present in the system, what is ...
- 11
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0
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75
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Topological properties of twisted TMD homobilayers
I'm reading this article about twisted TMD homobilayers (https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.03311) and there are certain topological properties that I don't understand:
On page 3, in the paragraph next to Fig ...
- 41
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0
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68
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Absence of topology in semi-dirac materials
Good morning everybody, I am facing a problem when calculating the topological invariant in a semi-dirac system, whose Hamiltonian is:
$$
H=k_x^2\sigma_x+k_y\sigma_y
$$
My question is that this ...
4
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2
answers
267
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Why are topological materials/phases "exotic"?
From what I understand, when a system has topological order, any local perturbation doesn't change the phases and thus its properties. This would suggest that it should be really easy to find ...
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279
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Detection of topological phases
In the book A Short Course on Topological Insulators (https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.02295) the authors start with a simple toy model, the SSH-Chain, which is a bipartite one-dimensional lattice with ...
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Why number of left-moving and right-moving edge states on a finite lattice system is equal?
I read an arguments about number of left-movers and right-mover in finite system in paper titled as
Antichiral Edge States in a Modified Haldane Nanoribbon. In second paragraph of introduction, it ...
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0
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57
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The $\rm SO(8)$ invariant interaction piece in Fidkowski and Kitaev's model
In this paper (arXiv link), the authors demonstrate the existence of a quartic interaction $W$ involving the 8 majorana operators $c_1 \ldots c_8$ (eq. 8) which is invariant under an $\rm SO(7)$ ...
- 151
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2
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111
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What is the physical meaning of adiabatically varying the wavevector $k$ as a parameter to calculate the Chern number for topological effects?
Could it mean something like applying a weak electric field and perturbing the band structure? Or some other weak perturbation? Or is that the wrong idea?
- 107
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How to describe SSH chain with odd number of sites?
Usually when we discuss SSH(Su-Schrieffer–Heeger) chain, we discuss a chain with 2N atoms, with v the intra-cell coupling and w the inter-cell coupling. When N is infinite, the system becomes bulk, ...
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2
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280
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How to see that the trivial insulator is trivial?
I have been trying to better understand gapped phases of matter — which may be "topological" or "trivial" — and I have run into the problem that I don't really understand the ...
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4
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989
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What is the topological space in “topological materials/phases of matter”?
I’m embarrassed to admit that after sitting in on several “topological physics” seminars, I still don’t understand the basic ideas of the area. In particular, when physicists talk about the “topology” ...
- 3,407
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95
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Inversion Symmetry in Periodic Lattices
I am studying Short Course On Topological Insulator by J. K. Asboth, et.al.
In the context of inversion symmetry in section 3.2, the effect of inversion symmetry, $\Pi$, on the external degree of ...
- 303
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1
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694
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Calculation of Bulk and edge states in SSH model
I am reading “A Short Course on Topological Insulators” by János K. Asbóth. et.all., and want to calculate the Bulk and edge state of the SSH model (Chapter 1) to drive the energy spectrum in Fig. 1....
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910
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What is a bulk state and bulk bands?
I am a bachelor student and I started studying topology and I came across two terms I have never seen before: Bulk band structure and bulk states.
Can someone explain these two terms or provide me a ...
- 155
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1
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102
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Why does particle-hole symmetry in 1D lead to a $Z_2$ topological invariant?
From the well-known AZ Tenfold Classification Table, a 1D system with square-positive particle-hole symmetry belong to class D and hence is characterized by a $Z_2$ topological invariant. I suppose ...
- 66
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2
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332
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What does "continuous transformation" mean with regard to the Hamiltonian of a system?
When dealing with topological phases of matter (topological insulators, quantum hall effect, etc...) one says that the system remains in the same phase as long as any continuous transformation of the ...
- 423
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1
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81
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Homotopy group for spin-1 BEC
Homotopy group can be used to classify topological defects. The procedure is
Find the Lie group $G$ that leaves the free-energy functional invariant when transforming $\psi$, where $\psi$ is the ...
- 169
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32
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Phase freedom of the edge states in topological insulator
Suppose that we consider the BHZ-like Hamiltonian of the form
$$
H_{bulk}=\left(M-B k^{2}\right) \tau_{z}-A k_{x} \tau_{y}+A k_{y} \sigma_{z} \otimes \tau_{x}
$$
where $\tau_i $ acts on the orbital ...
- 503
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2
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377
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Topological phases of matter
So according to this, scientists have discovered more than 5 states of matter we usually had that is the solid, liquid, gases, and Bose-Einstein-Condensate, and plasma. So how many topological phases ...
- 11
3
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2
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247
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Homotopy classification in ten-fold way
I am trying to understand algebraic invariants in topological insulators and topological superconductors through homotopy. But I encounter kind of a conceptual question. Let's say we have a second ...
- 141
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466
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Argument for number of edge states as topological invariant for SSH model
I am currently reading the book "A short introduction to Topological insulators" by Asboth etal.
In the first chapter on SSH model, they argue (see sec 1.5.3) that number of edge states is a ...
- 43
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0
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53
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How can we judge the topological property of a material by looking at it's band structure?
I am a beginner of studying topological insulator. I want to ask some general question in this area to clarify my understanding. May be I am asking wrong, hope you can point me out.
If certain ...
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473
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About Chern insulator
I know when we talk about Insulator, U(1)charge symmetry naturally exists.
But in this article:Quantum phase transitions of topological insulators without gap closing, the author claims that:
"...
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0
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84
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Must helical edge states be protected by time-reversal symmetry?
In a lattice system that exhibits quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE), like topological insulators in 2D or 3D, we call a pair of counter-propagating gapless edge states with opposite spin helical edge ...
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79
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Topology of Helium 3A and 3B
The question concerns the topology and dimensions of Helium 3A and 3B
A. The Helium 3A phase shows the same low energy excitations as those of a 2 spatial dimensional chiral p-wave superconductor --- ...
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1
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82
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Why topologically non-trivial materials are robust againist any external perturbations or defects?
Topologically non-trivial materials are insensitive to perturbations or defects. How can I prove it mathematically?
I thought of making the first-order perturbation term zero.
$$\left< \psi \right|...
- 1,348
5
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1
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484
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Difference between "ordinary" quantum Hall effect and quantum anomalous Hall effect
I am reading a review article on Weyl semimetal by Burkov where he writes, top of page 5:
A 3D quantum anomalous Hall insulator may be obtained by making a stack of 2D quantum Hall insulators [Ref. ...
- 508
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1
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259
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Chern number for nonintracing hamiltonian while bands crossing
Is it possible to define and calculate chern number for two bands while they're crossing each other?
- 13
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1
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924
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Why does an energy band crossing the Fermi energy mean the gap closes?
This online course on topology in condensed matter states the following:
We say that two gapped quantum systems are topologically equivalent if their Hamiltonians can be continuously deformed into ...
- 3,986
4
votes
1
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200
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Bosonic SPT phases with time reversal and a $Z_2$ symmetry
Consider a bosonic system with time reversal symmetry $\mathcal{T}$ and a unitary on-site $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. Suppose the symmetry is realized in a special way such that $$\mathcal{T}^2= (-1)^B$$ ...
- 407
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459
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What does "parity eigenvalue" mean in Fu-Kane formula?
I'm studying the online course "Topology in Condensed Matter", in the QSHE section (<https://topocondmat.org/w5_qshe/fermion_parity_pump.html>), I've studied the Fu-Kane formula
$$ Q=\...
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0
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71
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Mutual statistics between dyons (charge-monopole composite)
I am asking for some intuitive understanding between two dyons with $(e,m)$ in 3-dimensional space. Here the magnetic charge $m$ is normalized as
\begin{eqnarray}
m=\int_{S^2}\frac{B}{2\pi}\in\mathbb{...
- 813
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232
views
Alternatives for calculating topological invariants in topological materials
My questing is regarding the different alternatives for calculating topological invariants in topological materials protected by symmetry, specially time-reversal invariant topological insulators, ...
2
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0
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141
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Does flat band imply localization?
Consider the Kitaev chain, whose Hamiltonian is as follows:
$$ H = -\mu \sum_n c_n^\dagger c_n -t\sum_n (c_n^\dagger c_{n+1} + \mathrm{h.c.}) +\Delta \sum_n (c_n c_{n+1} + \mathrm{h.c.}) $$
I have ...
- 171
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0
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339
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About symmetry constraints in momentum space
When people study symmetry protected topological phases, certain symmetry constraints are enforced on the Hamiltonian. Specifically, for non-interacting fermionic systems, we could focus on the ...
- 171
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321
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Meaning of complex pairing terms in Kitaev chain
I am studying some properties of the one dimensional Kitaev chain, which has the following form:
$ H = -\mu \sum_n c_n^\dagger c_n - t \sum_n (c_{n+1}^\dagger c_n + h.c.) + \Delta \sum_n (c_n c_{n+1} ...
- 171
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81
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Algebra of Time Reversal and Particle Hole Symmetry in 10-fold Classification of Topological Insulator/superconductor
In the ten fold classification of TI/TSC, when time reversal symmetry $\mathcal{T}$ and particle hole symmetry $\mathcal{P}$ are both present, i.e., in the symmetry classes BDI, DIII, CII, CI, for all ...
- 407
7
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201
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Time-reversal (explicitly) broken surface of $(3+1)$-dimensional topological insulator
Let us consider the surface of $(3+1)$-dimensional topological insulator, which is protected by the charge conservation $U(1)_Q$ and a time-reversal symmetry $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$. Such a surface, if not ...
- 813
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60
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Why are degenerate ground states interesting?
Studying the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain I have learned that the model has two different phases, one which is called topological and the other one trivial. In the notes it says that these phases are ...
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