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arXiv:2101.10301 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Fractional boundary charges with quantized slopes in interacting one- and two-dimensional systems

Katharina Laubscher, Clara S. Weber, Dante Marvin Kennes, Mikhail Pletyukhov, Herbert Schoeller, Daniel Loss, Jelena Klinovaja

Published Jul 27, 2021• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study fractional boundary charges (FBCs) for two classes of strongly interacting systems. First, we study strongly interacting nanowires subjected to a periodic potential with a period that is a rational fraction of the Fermi wavelength. For sufficiently strong interactions, the periodic potential leads to the opening of a charge density wave gap at the Fermi level. The FBC then depends linearly on the phase offset of the potential with a quantized slope determined by the period. Furthermore, different possible values for the FBC at a fixed phase offset label different degenerate ground states of the system that cannot be connected adiabatically. Next, we turn to the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) at odd filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/(2l+1)$, where $l$ is an integer. For a Corbino disk threaded by an external flux, we find that the FBC depends linearly on the flux with a quantized slope that is determined by the filling factor. Again, the FBC has $2l+1$ different branches that cannot be connected adiabatically, reflecting the $(2l+1)$-fold degeneracy of the ground state. These results allow for several promising and strikingly simple ways to probe strongly interacting phases via boundary charge measurements.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.104.035432

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We study fractional boundary charges (FBCs) for two classes of strongly interacting systems. First, we study strongly interacting nanowires subjected to a periodic potential with a period that is a rational fraction of the Fermi wavelength. For sufficiently strong interactions, the periodic potential leads to the opening of a charge density wave gap at the Fermi level. The FBC then depends linearly on the phase offset of the potential with a quantized slope determined by the period. Furthermore, different possible values for the FBC at a fixed phase offset label different degenerate ground states of the system that cannot be connected adiabatically. Next, we turn to the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) at odd filling factors \ensuremathν=1/(2l+1)\ensuremath{\nu}=1/(2l+1)\ensuremathν=1/(2l+1), where lll is an integer. For a Corbino disk threaded by an external flux, we find that the FBC depends linearly on the flux with a quantized slope that is determined by the filling factor. Again, the FBC has 2l+12l+12l+1 different branches that cannot be connected adiabatically, reflecting the (2l+1)(2l+1)(2l+1)-fold degeneracy of the ground state. These results allow for several promising and strikingly simple ways to probe strongly interacting phases via boundary charge measurements.
We consider a topologically nontrivial flat-band structure in one spatial dimension in the presence of nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor Hubbard interaction. The noninteracting band structure is characterized by a symmetry-protected topologically quantized Berry phase. At certain fractional fillings, a gapped phase with a filling-dependent ground-state degeneracy and fractionally charged quasiparticles emerges. At filling 13\frac{1}{3}31​, the ground states carry a fractional Berry phase in the momentum basis. These features at first glance suggest a certain analogy to the fractional quantum Hall scenario in two dimensions. We solve the interacting model analytically in the physically relevant limit of a large band gap in the underlying band structure, the analog of a lowest Landau level projection. Our solution affords a simple physical understanding of the properties of the gapped interacting phase. We pinpoint crucial differences to the fractional quantum Hall case by studying the Berry phase and the entanglement entropy associated with the degenerate ground states. In particular, we conclude that the ``fractional topological phase in one-dimensional flat bands'' is not a one-dimensional analog of the two-dimensional fractional quantum Hall states, but rather a charge density wave with a nontrivial Berry phase. Finally, the symmetry-protected nature of the Berry phase of the interacting phase is demonstrated by explicitly constructing a gapped interpolation to a state with a trivial Berry phase.
Motivated by experimental realizations of integer quantized charge pumping in one-dimensional superlattices [Nat. Phys. 12, 350 (2016); Nat. Phys. 12, 296 (2016)], we generalize and propose the adiabatic pumping of a fractionalized charge in interacting bosonic systems. This is achieved by dynamically sweeping the modulated potential in a class of one-dimensional interacting systems. As concrete examples, we show the charge pumping of interacting bosons at certain fractionally occupied fillings. We find that, for a given ground state, the charge pumping in a complete potential cycle is quantized to the fractional value related to the corresponding Chern number, characterized by the motion of the charge polarization per site. Moreover, the difference between charge polarizations of two ground states is quantized to an intrinsic constant revealing the fractional elementary charge of quasiparticle.
We solve models of N species of fermions in the lowest Landau level with U(N)-invariant interactions in the N≫1 limit. We find saddles of the second quantized path integral at fixed chemical potential corresponding to fractional Hall states with filling (p/q), where the integers p and q depend on the chemical potential and interactions. On a long torus there are q such states related by translation symmetry, and SU(N)-invariant excitations of fractional charge. Remarkably, these saddles and their filling persist as extrema of the second-quantized action at N=1. Our construction gives a first-principles derivation of fractional Hall states from strongly interacting fermions.
The fractional quantum Hall effect has, since its discovery around 30 years ago, been a vivid field of research—both experimentally and theoretically. In this thesis we investigate certain non-abelian quantum Hall states by mapping the two-dimensional system onto a thin torus, where the problem becomes effectively one-dimensional and hopping is suppressed, meaning that the classical electrostatic interaction dominates. The approach assists with a simplified view of ground states and their degeneracies, as well as of the nature of the fractionally charged, minimal excitations of the corresponding quantum Hall states. Similar models are also relevant for cold atoms trapped in one-dimensional optical lattices, where interaction parameters are available for tuning, which opens up for realizing interesting lattice states in controllable environments. The diverse applicability of the one-dimensional electrostatic lattice hamiltonian motivates the exploration of the systems and models treated in this work. In the absence of hopping or tunneling, the low-energy behavior of the one-dimensional lattice system is ultimately dependent on the nature of the electrostatic interaction present. For ordinary interactions such as Coulomb, the ground state at particle filling fraction ν= p/q has a well-known q-fold center-of-mass degeneracy and the elementary excitations are domain walls of fractional charge e* = ±e/q. These appear in abelian quantum Hall systems and are known since earlier. In this work, we show how other types of interaction give rise to increased ground state degeneracies and, as a result, to the emergence of split fractional charges recognized from non- abelian quantum Hall systems.
We develop a method to characterize topological phase transitions for strongly correlated Hamiltonians defined on two-dimensional lattices based on the many-body Berry curvature. Our goal is to identify a class of quantum critical points between topologically nontrivial phases with fractionally quantized Hall (FQH) conductivity and topologically trivial gapped phases through the discontinuities of the many-body Berry curvature in the so-called flux Brillouin zone (fBZ), the latter being defined by imposing all possible twisted boundary conditions. For this purpose, we study the finite-size signatures of several quantum phase transitions between fractional Chern insulators and charge-ordered phases for two-dimensional lattices by evaluating the many-body Berry curvature numerically using exact diagonalization. We observe degeneracy points (nodes) of many-body energy levels at high-symmetry points in the fBZ, accompanied by diverging Berry curvature. We find a correspondence between the number and order of these nodal points, and the change of the topological invariants of the many-body ground states across the transition, in close analogy with Weyl nodes in noninteracting band structures. This motivates us to apply a scaling procedure, originally developed for noninteracting systems, for the Berry curvature at the nodal points. This procedure offers a useful tool for the classification of topological phase transitions in interacting systems harboring FQH like topological order.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of the strongly interacting Harper–Hofstadter–Mott model at quarter flux on a quasi-one-dimensional lattice consisting of a single magnetic flux quantum in y -direction. In addition to superfluid phases with various density patterns, the ground-state phase diagram features quasi-one-dimensional analogs of fractional quantum Hall phases at fillings ν = 1/2 and 3/2, where the latter is only found thanks to the hopping anisotropy and the quasi-one-dimensional geometry. At integer fillings—where in the full two-dimensional system the ground-state is expected to be gapless—we observe gapped non-degenerate ground-states: at ν = 1 it shows an odd 'fermionic' Hall conductance, while the Hall response at ν = 2 consists of the transverse transport of a single particle–hole pair, resulting in a net zero Hall conductance. The results are obtained by exact diagonalization and in the reciprocal mean-field approximation.