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arXiv:1506.05460 · Physical Review B

Equivalence of topological insulators and superconductors

Emilio Cobanera, Gerardo Ortíz

Published Oct 14, 2015• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Systems of free fermions are classified by symmetry, space dimensionality, and topological properties described by $K$ homology. Those systems belonging to different classes are inequivalent. In contrast, we show that by taking a many-body/Fock-space viewpoint it becomes possible to establish equivalences of topological insulators and superconductors in terms of duality transformations. These mappings connect topologically inequivalent systems of fermions, jumping across entries in existent classification tables, because of the phenomenon of symmetry transmutation by which a symmetry and its dual partner have identical algebraic properties but very different physical interpretations. To constrain our study to established classification tables, we define and characterize mathematically Gaussian dualities as dualities mapping free fermions to free fermions (and interacting to interacting). By introducing a large, flexible class of Gaussian dualities we show that any insulator is dual to a superconductor, and that fermionic edge modes are dual to Majorana edge modes, that is, the Gaussian dualities of this paper preserve the bulk-boundary correspondence. Transmutation of relevant symmetries, particle number, translation, and time reversal is also investigated in detail. As illustrative examples, we show the duality equivalence of the dimerized Peierls chain and the Majorana chain of Kitaev, and a two-dimensional Kekul\'e-type topological insulator, including graphene as a special instance in coupling space, dual to a $p$-wave superconductor. Since our analysis extends to interacting fermion systems, we also briefly discuss some such applications.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.92.155125

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Systems of free fermions are classified by symmetry, space dimensionality, and topological properties described by KKK homology. Those systems belonging to different classes are inequivalent. In contrast, we show that by taking a many-body/Fock-space viewpoint it becomes possible to establish equivalences of topological insulators and superconductors in terms of duality transformations. These mappings connect topologically inequivalent systems of fermions, jumping across entries in existent classification tables, because of the phenomenon of symmetry transmutation by which a symmetry and its dual partner have identical algebraic properties but very different physical interpretations. To constrain our study to established classification tables, we define and characterize mathematically Gaussian dualities as dualities mapping free fermions to free fermions (and interacting to interacting). By introducing a large, flexible class of Gaussian dualities we show that any insulator is dual to a superconductor, and that fermionic edge modes are dual to Majorana edge modes, that is, the Gaussian dualities of this paper preserve the bulk-boundary correspondence. Transmutation of relevant symmetries, particle number, translation, and time reversal is also investigated in detail. As illustrative examples, we show the duality equivalence of the dimerized Peierls chain and the Majorana chain of Kitaev, and a two-dimensional Kekul'e-type topological insulator, including graphene as a special instance in coupling space, dual to a ppp-wave superconductor. Since our analysis extends to interacting fermion systems, we also briefly discuss some such applications.
In this paper we show how the classification of topological phases in insulators and superconductors is changed by interactions, in the case of one-dimensional systems. We focus on the time-reversal-invariant Majorana chain (BDI symmetry class). While the band classification yields an integer topological index kkk, it is known that phases characterized by values of kkk in the same equivalence class modulo 8 can be adiabatically transformed one to another by adding suitable interaction terms. Here we show that the eight equivalence classes are distinct and exhaustive, and provide a physical interpretation for the interacting invariant modulo 8. The different phases realize different Altland-Zirnbauer classes of the reduced density matrix for an entanglement bipartition into two half chains. We generalize these results to the classification of all one-dimensional gapped phases of fermionic systems with possible antiunitary symmetries, utilizing the algebraic framework of central extensions. We use matrix product state methods to prove our results.
The natural existence of crystalline symmetry in real materials manifests the importance of understanding crystalline symmetry-protected topological phases, especially for interacting systems. In this paper, we systematically construct and classify all the point-group crystalline topological superconductors and insulators in three-dimensional (3D) interacting fermion systems using the novel concept of a topological crystal. The corresponding higher-order topological surface theory can also be systematically studied via higher-order bulk-boundary correspondence. In particular, we discover several intrinsically interacting topological phases that cannot be realized in any free-fermion systems. Moreover, the crystalline equivalence principle for 3D interacting fermionic systems is also verified, with an additional subtle “twist” on the spin of fermions.
We systematically study topological phases of insulators and superconductors (or superfluids) in three spatial dimensions. We find that there exist three-dimensional (3D) topologically nontrivial insulators or superconductors in five out of ten symmetry classes introduced in seminal work by Altland and Zirnbauer within the context of random matrix theory, more than a decade ago. One of these is the recently introduced Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological insulator in the symplectic (or spin-orbit) symmetry class. We show that there exist precisely four more topological insulators. For these systems, all of which are time-reversal invariant in three dimensions, the space of insulating ground states satisfying certain discrete symmetry properties is partitioned into topological sectors that are separated by quantum phase transitions. Three of the above five topologically nontrivial phases can be realized as time-reversal invariant superconductors. In these the different topological sectors are characterized by an integer winding number defined in momentum space. When such 3D topological insulators are terminated by a two-dimensional surface, they support a number (which may be an arbitrary nonvanishing even number for singlet pairing) of Dirac fermion (Majorana fermion when spin-rotation symmetry is completely broken) surface modes which remain gapless under arbitrary perturbations of the Hamiltonian that preserve the characteristic discrete symmetries, including disorder. In particular, these surface modes completely evade Anderson localization from random impurities. These topological phases can be thought of as three-dimensional analogs of well-known paired topological phases in two spatial dimensions such as the spinless chiral $({p}_{x}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}i{p}_{y})$-wave superconductor (or Moore-Read Pfaffian state). In the corresponding topologically nontrivial (analogous to ``weak pairing'') and topologically trivial (analogous to ``strong pairing'') 3D phases, the wave functions exhibit markedly distinct behavior. When an electromagnetic U(1) gauge field and fluctuations of the gap functions are included in the dynamics, the superconducting phases with nonvanishing winding number possess nontrivial topological ground-state degeneracies.
A time-reversal invariant Kitaev-type model is introduced in which spins (Dirac matrices) on the square lattice interact via anisotropic nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions. The model is exactly solved by mapping it onto a tight-binding model of free Majorana fermions coupled with static Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ gauge fields. The Majorana fermion model can be viewed as a model of time-reversal-invariant superconductor and is classified as a member of symmetry class DIII in the Altland-Zirnbauer classification. The ground-state phase diagram has two topologically distinct gapped phases which are distinguished by a Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological invariant. The topologically nontrivial phase supports both a Kramers' pair of gapless Majorana edge modes at the boundary and a Kramers' pair of zero-energy Majorana states bound to a 0-flux vortex in the $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux background. Power-law decaying correlation functions of spins along the edge are obtained by taking the gapless Majorana edge modes into account. The model is also defined on the one-dimension ladder, in which case again the ground-state phase diagram has Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ trivial and nontrivial phases.
We complete a classification of topological phases and their topological defects in crystalline insulators and superconductors. We consider topological phases and defects described by noninteracting Bloch and Bogoliubov--de Gennes Hamiltonians that support additional order-two spatial symmetry, besides any of 10 classes of symmetries defined by time-reversal symmetry and particle-hole symmetry. The additional order-two spatial symmetry we consider is general and it includes ${\mathbit{Z}}_{2}$ global symmetry, mirror reflection, twofold rotation, inversion, and their magnetic point group symmetries. We find that the topological periodic table shows a periodicity in the number of flipped coordinates under the order-two spatial symmetry, in addition to the Bott periodicity in the space dimensions. Various symmetry-protected topological phases and gapless modes will be identified and discussed in a unified framework. We also present topological classification of symmetry-protected Fermi points. The bulk classification and the surface Fermi point classification provide a realization of the bulk-boundary correspondence in terms of the KKK theory.
We present a systematic topological classification of fermionic and bosonic topological phases protected by time-reversal, particle-hole, parity, and combination of these symmetries. We use two complementary approaches: one in terms of KKK-theory classification of gapped quadratic fermion theories with symmetries, and the other in terms of the KKK-matrix theory description of the edge theory of (2+1)-dimensional bulk theories. The first approach is specific to free fermion theories in general spatial dimensions while the second approach is limited to two spatial dimensions but incorporates effects of interactions. We also clarify the role of the CPT theorem in the classification of symmetry-protected topological phases, and show, in particular, that the topological superconductors discussed before are related by the CPT theorem.