It is well known that the 3D electronic topological insulator (TI) with charge-conservation and time-reversal symmetry cannot have a trivial insulating surface that preserves symmetry. It is often implicitly assumed that if the TI surface preserves both symmetries then it must be gapless. Here we show that it is possible for the TI surface to be both gapped and symmetry-preserving, at the expense of having surface-topological order. In contrast to analogous bosonic topological insulators, this symmetric surface topological order is intrinsically non-Abelian. We show that the surface-topological order provides a complete non-perturbative definition of the electron TI that transcends a free-particle band-structure picture, and could provide a useful perspective for studying strongly correlated topological Mott insulators.
We construct the symmetric-gapped surface states of a fractional topological insulator with electromagnetic $θ$-angle $θ_{em} = \fracπ{3}$ and a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_3$ gauge field. They are the proper generalizations of the T-pfaffian state and pfaffian/anti-semion state and feature an extended periodicity compared with their of "integer" topological band insulators counterparts. We demonstrate that the surface states have the correct anomalies associated with time-reversal symmetry and charge conservation.
Within the framework of a mean-field approach the Mott-Hubbard phase transition is considered in the Hubbard and Falicov-Kimball models for half-filled occupation. It is shown that a static Z_2-field forms an insulator state on the lattice with a double cell, its strength is determined by the Hubbard interaction. An uniform configuration of the Z_2-field corresponds to a gapless spin liquid state, the configuration, at which the lattice with a double cell is formed, corresponds to a gapped fermion liquid, fermions move in this field. Due to the presence of a static field in an insulator state,…
The standard boundary state of a topological insulator in 3+1 dimensions has gapless charged fermions. We present model systems that reproduce this standard gapless boundary state in one phase, but also have gapped phases with topological order. Our models are weakly coupled and all the dynamics is explicit. We rederive some known boundary states of topological insulators and construct new ones. Consistency with the standard spin/charge relation of condensed matter physics places a nontrivial constraint on models.
Artificially created two-dimensional (2D) interfaces or structures are ideal for seeking exotic phase transitions due to their highly tunable carrier density and interfacially enhanced many-body interactions. Here, we report the discovery of a metal-insulator transition (MIT) and an emergent gapped phase in the metal-semiconductor interface that is created in 2H-MoTe$_2$ via alkali-metal deposition. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we found that the electron-phonon coupling is strong at the interface as characterized by a clear observation of replica shake-off bands. Such stron…
Fully gapped superconductivity in In-doped topological crystalline insulator Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te
拓扑绝缘体和拓扑晶体绝缘体通过掺杂得到的超导体一直被认为是拓扑超导体的候选者。Pb $_{0.5}$ Sn $_{0.5}$ Te是一种拓扑晶体绝缘体，在（001）、（011）和（111）取向表面上具有镜像对称保护表面态。超导体（Pb $_{0.5}$ Sn $_{0.5}$）$_{0.7}$ In $_{0.3}$ Te是通过在Pb $_{0.5}$ Sn $_{0.5}$ Te中掺杂In诱导的，并且被认为是拓扑超导体。本文首次报道了（Pb $_{0.5}$ Sn $_{0.5}$）$_{0.7}$ In $_{0.3}$ Te在（001）取向表面上的超导态和超导能隙的扫描隧道谱测量。利用Dynes模型，可以用各向异性的$Δ=0.72+0.18\cos4θ$ meV的$s$-波隙函数很好地拟合该谱.结果表明，准粒子态密度似乎是完全带隙的，没有任何带隙内态，与拓扑超导体的预期相矛盾。
We show that the gapless boundary signatures - namely, chiral/helical hinge modes or localized zero modes - of three-dimensional higher-order topological insulators and superconductors with inversion symmetry can be gapped without symmetry breaking upon the introduction of non-Abelian surface topological order. In each case, the fractionalization pattern that appears on surface is `anomalous' in the sense that it can be made consistent with symmetry only on the surface of a three dimensional higher-order insulator/superconductor. Our results show that the interacting manifestation of higher-or…
$^{13}$C nuclear magnetic resonance measurements were performed for a single-component molecular material Zn(tmdt)$_{2}$, in which tmdt's form an arrangement similar to the so-called $κ$-type molecular packing in quasi-two-dimensional Mott insulators and superconductors. Detailed analysis of the powder spectra uncovered local spin susceptibility in the tmdt $π$ orbitals. The obtained shift and relaxation rate revealed the singlet-triplet excitations of the $π$ spins, indicating that Zn(tmdt)$_{2}$ is a spin-gapped Mott insulator with exceptionally large electron correlations compared to conven…
The Kondo insulator state (KIS) realized in the symmetric Anderson model at half filling is studied in the framework of a mean field approach. It is shown that the state of the Kondo insulator is realized in a lattice with a double cell and a gapped electron liquid behaves like a gapless Majorana spin liquid. The local moments of d-electrons form a static $Z_2$-field in which band electrons move. The gap value in the quasi-particle excitations spectrum decreases with increasing an external magnetic field and closes at its critical value. The behavior of an electron liquid is studied for an arb…
A slave-fermion gauge-theory approach of the t-J model: Doping-induced complex magnetic structure and Z$_{2}$ spin-gapped anomalous metal in an antiferromagnetic doped Mott insulator
Despite the success in describing a range of quantum many-body states using tensor networks, there is a no-go theorem that rules out strictly local tensor networks as topologically nontrivial groundstates of gapped parent Hamiltonians with short-range (including exponentially decaying) couplings. In this work, we show that for free fermions, strictly local tensor networks may describe nonzero temperature averages with respect to gapped Hamiltonians with exponentially decaying couplings. Parent Hamiltonians in this sense may be constructed for any dimensionality and without any obstructions due…
We reconsider the problem of surface states spectrum in type One Dirac metals. We find that the surface states, despite being gapped, always form branches terminating at Dirac points. Furthermore, we consider evolution of the surface states in the case, when rotational symmetry is broken, and as a result, Dirac points are gapped. We find, that in this case, special role is played by mirror symmetry relative to the plane connecting Dirac points. When it is present, the resulting gapped state is a topological crystalline insulator, which surface spectrum can contain either one or three Dirac poi…
We formulate a Chern-Simons composite fermion theory for Fractional Chern Insulators (FCIs), whereby bare fermions are mapped into composite fermions coupled to a lattice Chern-Simons gauge theory. We apply this construction to a Chern insulator model on the kagome lattice and identify a rich structure of gapped topological phases characterized by fractionalized excitations including states with unequal filling and Hall conductance. Gapped states with the same Hall conductance at different filling fractions are characterized as realizing distinct symmetry fractionalization classes.
Since the discovery of the Harper-Hofstadter model, it has been known that condensed matter systems with periodic modulations can be promoted to non-trivial topological states with emergent gauge fields in higher dimensions. In this work, we develop a general procedure to compute the gauge fields in higher dimensions associated to low-dimensional systems with periodic (charge- and spin-) density wave modulations. We construct two-dimensional (2D) models with modulations that can be promoted to higher-order topological phases with $U(1)$ and $SU(2)$ gauge fields in 3D. Corner modes in our 2D mo…
Topological phases of matter are usually realized in deconfined phases of gauge theories. In this context, confined phases with strongly fluctuating gauge fields seem to be irrelevant to the physics of topological phases. For example, the low-energy theory of the two-dimensional (2D) toric code model (i.e. the deconfined phase of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory) is a $U(1)\times U(1)$ Chern-Simons theory in which gauge charges (i.e., $e$ and $m$ particles) are deconfined and the gauge fields are gapped, while the confined phase is topologically trivial. In this paper, we point out a new route to c…
Magnetic topological insulators (TIs) with nontrivial topological electronic structure and broken time-reversal symmetry exhibit various exotic topological quantum phenomena. The realization of such exotic phenomena at high temperature is one of central topics in this area. We reveal that MnBi6Te10 is a magnetic TI with an antiferromagnetic ground state below 10.8 K whose nontrivial topology is manifested by Dirac-like surface states. The ferromagnetic axion insulator state with Z4 = 2 emerges once spins polarized at field as low as 0.1 T, accompanied with saturated anomalous Hall resistivity …
Anomalies are renormalization group invariants that constrain the dynamics of quantum field theories. We show that certain anomalies for discrete global symmetries imply that the underlying theory either spontaneously breaks its generalized global symmetry or is gapless. We identify an obstruction, formulated in terms of the anomaly inflow action, that must vanish if a symmetry preserving gapped phase, i.e. a unitary topological quantum field theory, exits with the given anomaly. Our result is similar to the $2d$ Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem but applies more broadly to continuum theories in gen…
We study precursor states of fractional topological insulators (FTIs) in interacting fermionic ladders with spin-orbit coupling. Within a microscopically motivated bosonization approach, we investigate different competing phases depending on same-spin and interspin interactions at fractional effective filling $ν=1/3$ per spin. In the spin-decoupled limit, we find that strong repulsive interactions of already moderate range may lead to a partially gapped state with two time-reversed copies of a quasi-one dimensional Laughlin phase. This FTI precursor competes with an interleg partially gapped p…
We investigate symmetry-preserving gapped boundary of (2+1)D topological phases with global symmetry, which can be either bosonic or fermionic. We develop a general algebraic description for gapped boundary condition for symmetry-enriched or fermionic topological phases, extending the framework of Lagrangian algebra anyon for bosonic phases without symmetry. We then focus on application to the case with U(1) symmetry. We derive new obstructions to symmetry-preserving gapped boundary for U(1)$^f$-symmetric (2+1)D fermionic topological phases, which are beyond chiral central charge $c_-$ and ele…
In principle, there is no obstacle to gapping fermions preserving any global symmetry that does not suffer a 't Hooft anomaly. In practice, preserving a symmetry that is realised on fermions in a chiral manner necessitates some dynamics beyond simple quadratic mass terms. We show how this can be achieved using familiar results about supersymmetric gauge theories and, in particular, the phenomenon of confinement without chiral symmetry breaking. We present simple models that gap fermions while preserving a symmetry group under which they transform in chiral representations. For example, we show…
The discovery of quadrupole topology opens a new horizon in the study of topological phenomena. However, the existing experimental realizations of quadrupole topological insulators in symmorphic lattices with $π$-fluxes often break the protective mirror symmetry. Here, we present a theory for anomalous quadrupole topological insulators in nonsymmorphic crystals without flux, using 2D sonic crystals with $p4gm$ and $p2gg$ symmetry groups as concrete examples. We reveal that the anomalous quadrupole topology is protected by two orthogonal glide symmetries in square or rectangular lattices. The d…
The layered MnBi2nTe3n+1 family represents the first intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator (AFM TI, protected by a combination symmetry ) ever discovered, providing an ideal platform to explore novel physics such as quantum anomalous Hall effect at elevated temperature and axion electrodynamics. Recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments on this family have revealed that all terminations exhibit (nearly) gapless topological surface states (TSSs) within the AFM state, violating the definition of the AFM TI, as the surfaces being studied should be -breaking …
Based on first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we propose that EuIn$_2$As$_2$ is a long awaited axion insulator with antiferromagnetic (AFM) long range order. Characterized by the parity-based invariant $\mathbb Z_4=2$, the topological magneto-electric effect is quantized with $θ=π$ in the bulk, with a band gap as large as 0.1 eV. When the staggered magnetic moment of the AFM phase is along $a/b$ axis, it's also a TCI phase. Gapless surface states emerge on (100), (010) and (001) surfaces, protected by mirror symmetries (nonzero mirror Chern numbers). When the magnetic moment is…
We show that the chiral Dirac and Majorana hinge modes in three-dimensional higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) and superconductors (HOTSCs) can be gapped while preserving the protecting $\mathsf{C}_{2n}\mathcal T$ symmetry upon the introduction of non-Abelian surface topological order. In both cases, the topological order on a single side surface breaks time reversal symmetry, but appears with its time-reversal conjugate on alternating sides in a $\mathsf{C}_{2n}\mathcal T$ preserving pattern. In the absence of the HOTI/HOTSC bulk, such a pattern necessarily involves gapless chiral mo…
Correlations in topological states of matter provide a rich phenomenology, including a reduction in the topological classification of the interacting system compared to its non-interacting counterpart. This happens when two phases that are topologically distinct on the non-interacting level become adiabatically connected once interactions are included. We use a quantum Monte Carlo method to study such a reduction. We consider a 2D charge-conserving analog of the Levin-Gu superconductor whose classification is reduced from $\mathbb{Z}$ to $\mathbb{Z}_4$. We may expect any symmetry-preserving in…
Time-reversal operation and transport phenomena in topological insulators
我们证明了在带隙或无隙量子系统中任何形式的电流测量都必然违反时间反演对称性。然后，我们使用电离能理论明确地表明，金属表面态的拓扑绝缘体由一些特殊的能级交叉，而不是由于TRS诱导的Kramers简并，因为有一个有限的能隙，由于不同的波函数。我们使用这种特殊的交叉点，并推导出所需的电子-离子散射率来解释（Bi 1-xSbx）2 Te 3和Pb 1-xSnxSe拓扑绝缘体的电阻率和载流子类型的转变。
We propose a new correlated topological state which we call a higher-order topological Mott insulator (HOTMI). This state exhibits a striking bulk-boundary correspondence due to electron correlations. Namely, the topological properties in the bulk, characterized by the Z3 spin-Berry phase, result in gapless corner modes emerging only in spin excitations (i.e., the single-particle excitations remain gapped around the corner). We demonstrate the emergence of the HOTMI in a Hubbard model on the kagome lattice, and elucidate how strong correlations change gapless corner modes at the noninteracting…
The D3-probe-D7 brane system, oriented so as to have 2+1-dimensional Poincare symmetry, is argued to be the holographic representation of a strongly correlated fractional topological insulator which exhibits a zero-field quantized Hall effect with half-units of Hall conductivity. The phase diagram of the system with charge density and external magnetic field is found and, as well as charge gapped quantum Hall states, it exhibits metallic and semi-metallic phases with interesting behaviours. The relationship of this to other models of fractional topological insulators is discussed.
