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arXiv:1112.4308 · Physical Review B

Synchronous and asynchronous Mott transitions in topological insulator ribbons

Amal Medhi, Vijay B. Shenoy, H. R. Krishnamurthy

Published Jun 25, 2012• 13 citations
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Abstract

We address how the nature of linearly dispersing edge states of two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators evolves with increasing electron-electron correlation engendered by a Hubbard-like on-site repulsion $U$ in finite ribbons of two models of topological band insulators. Using an inhomogeneous cluster slave-rotor mean-field method developed here, we show that electronic correlations drive the topologically nontrivial phase into a Mott insulating phase via two different routes. In a synchronous transition, the entire ribbon attains a Mott insulating state at one critical $U$ that depends weakly on the width of the ribbon. In the second, asynchronous route, Mott localization first occurs on the edge layers at a smaller critical value of electronic interaction, which then propagates into the bulk as $U$ is further increased until all layers of the ribbon become Mott localized. We show that the kind of Mott transition that takes place is determined by certain properties of the linearly dispersing edge states which characterize the topological resilience to Mott localization.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.85.235449

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We address how the nature of linearly dispersing edge states of two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators evolves with increasing electron-electron correlation engendered by a Hubbard-like on-site repulsion UUU in finite ribbons of two models of topological band insulators. Using an inhomogeneous cluster slave-rotor mean-field method developed here, we show that electronic correlations drive the topologically nontrivial phase into a Mott insulating phase via two different routes. In a synchronous transition, the entire ribbon attains a Mott insulating state at one critical UUU that depends weakly on the width of the ribbon. In the second, asynchronous route, Mott localization first occurs on the edge layers at a smaller critical value of electronic interaction, which then propagates into the bulk as UUU is further increased until all layers of the ribbon become Mott localized. We show that the kind of Mott transition that takes place is determined by certain properties of the linearly dispersing edge states which characterize the topological resilience to Mott localization.
We investigate correlation effects in two-dimensional topological insulators (TI). In the first part, we discuss finite size effects for interacting systems of different sizes in a ribbon geometry. For large systems, there are two pairs of well separated massless modes on both edges. For these systems, we analyze the finite size effects using a standard bosonization approach. For small systems, where the edge states are massive Dirac fermions, we use the inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) combined with iterative perturbation theory as an impurity solver to study interaction effects. We show that the finite size gap in the edge states is renormalized for weak interactions, which is consistent with a Fermi-liquid picture for small size TIs. In the second part, we investigate phase transitions in finite size TIs at zero temperature focusing on the effects of possible interedge umklapp scattering for the edge states within the inhomogeneous DMFT using the numerical renormalization group. We show that correlation effects are effectively stronger near the edge sites because the coordination number is smaller than in the bulk. Therefore the localization of the edge states around the edge sites, which is a fundamental property in TIs, is weakened for strong coupling strengths. However, we find no signs for ``edge Mott insulating states'' and the system stays in the topological insulating state, which is adiabatically connected to the noninteracting state for all interaction strengths smaller than the critical value. Increasing the interaction further, a nearly homogeneous Mott insulating state is stabilized.
We investigate properties of a topological Mott insulator in one dimension by examining the bulk topological invariant and the entanglement spectrum of a correlated electron model. We clarify how gapless edge states in a noninteracting topological band insulator evolve into spinon edge states in a topological Mott insulator. Furthermore, we propose a topological Mott transition, which is a new type of topological phase transition which has never been observed in free fermion systems. This unconventional transition occurs in spin liquid phases in the Mott insulator and is accompanied by zeros of the single-electron Green's function and a gap closing in the spin excitation spectrum.
The Lieb lattice possesses three bands and, with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling $\ensuremath{\lambda}$, supports topologically nontrivial band insulating phases. At half filling the lower band is fully filled, while the upper band is empty. The chemical potential lies in the flat band (FB) located at the middle of the spectrum, thereby stabilizing a flat band insulator. At this filling, we introduce on-site Hubbard interaction UUU on all sites. Within a slave rotor mean-field theory we show that, in spite of the singular effect of interaction on the FB, the three bands remain stable up to a fairly large critical correlation strength (Ucrit{U}_{\text{crit}}Ucrit​), creating a correlated flat band insulator. Beyond Ucrit{U}_{\text{crit}}Ucrit​, there is a sudden transition to a Mott insulating state, where the FB is destroyed due to complete transfer of spectral weight from the FB to the upper and lower bands. We show that all the correlation driven insulating phases host edge modes with linearly dispersing bands along with a FB passing through the Dirac point, exhibiting that the topological nature of the bulk band structure remains intact in the presence of strong correlation. Furthermore, in the limiting case of UUU introduced only on one sublattice where $\ensuremath{\lambda}=0$, we show that the Lieb lattice can support mixed edge modes containing contributions from both spinons and electrons, in contrast to purely spinon edge modes arising in the topological Mott insulator.
We study the effects of electronic correlations on fragile topology using dynamical mean-field theory. Fragile topological insulators (FTIs) offer obstruction to the formation of exponentially localized Wannier functions, but they can be trivialized by adding certain trivial degrees of freedom. For the same reason, FTIs do not host symmetry-protected flow of edge states between bulk bands in cylindrical boundary conditions but are expected to have a spectral flow between the fragile bands and other bands under certain twisted boundary conditions. We here analyze commonly observed effects of strong correlations, such as the Mott insulator transition and magnetism, on a known model hosting fragile topology. We show that in the nonmagnetic case, fragile topology, along with the twisted boundary states, is stable with interactions below a critical interaction strength. Above this interaction strength, a transition to the Mott insulating phase occurs, and the twisted boundary states disappear. Furthermore, by applying a homogeneous magnetic field, the fragile topology is destroyed. However, we show that a magnetic field can induce a topological phase transition which converts a fragile topological insulator to a Chern insulator. Finally, we study ferromagnetic solutions of the fragile topological model.
The Lieb lattice possesses three bands and with intrinsic spin orbit coupling λ\lambdaλ, supports topologically non-trivial band insulating phases. At half filling the lower band is fully filled, while the upper band is empty. The chemical potential lies in the flat band (FB) located at the middle of the spectrum, thereby stabilizing a flat band insulator. At this filling, we introduce on-site Hubbard interaction UUU on all sites. Within a slave rotor mean field theory we show that, in spite of the singular effect of interaction on the FB, the three bands remain stable up to a fairly large critical correlation strength (UcritU_{crit}Ucrit​), creating a correlated flat band insulator. Beyond UcritU_{crit}Ucrit​, there is a sudden transition to a Mott insulating state, where the FB is destroyed due to complete transfer of spectral weight from the FB to the upper and lower bands. We show that all the correlation driven insulating phases host edge modes with linearly dispersing bands along with a FB passing through the Dirac point, exhibiting that the topological nature of the bulk band structure remains intact in presence of strong correlation. Furthermore, in the limiting case of UUU introduced only on one sublattice where λ=0\lambda=0λ=0, we show that the Lieb lattice can support mixed edge modes containing contributions from both spinons and electrons, in contrast to purely spinon edge modes arising in the topological Mott insulator.
Weyl semimetals are three-dimensional, topologically protected, gapless phases which show exotic phenomena such as Fermi arc surface states or negative magnetoresistance. It is an open question whether interparticle interactions can turn the topological semimetal into a topologically nontrivial Mott-insulating phase. We investigate an experimentally motivated model for Weyl physics of cold atoms in optical lattices, with the main focus on interaction effects and topological properties, by means of dynamical mean-field theory. We characterize topological phases by numerically evaluating the Chern number via the Ishikawa-Matsuyama formula for interacting phases. Within our studies, we find that the Chern numbers become trivial when interactions lead to insulating behavior. For a deeper understanding of the Weyl-semimetal-to-Mott-insulator topological phase transition, we evaluate the topological properties of quasiparticle bands as well as so-called blind bands. Finally, we consider a system with an open boundary along one spatial direction in order to study correlation effects of surface states. In a narrow regime close to the topological phase transition, we find a correlation-induced state in which the surface becomes metallic while the bulk is semimetallic.