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arXiv:2109.06891 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Topological gauge theory for mixed Dirac stationary states in all dimensions

Ze-Min Huang, Xiao-Qi Sun, Sebastian Diehl

Published Dec 19, 2022• 14 citations
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Abstract

We derive the universal real-time $\text{U}(1)$ topological gauge field action for mixed Dirac states of fermions, described by a density matrix weighted by a gapped Dirac operator, in all dimensions. The key prerequisites are charge quantization and charge conservation; in fact, charge quantization is the root of the action's topological properties. The gauge action encodes nonquantized linear responses as expected for mixed states, but also quantized nonlinear responses, which are accessible in experiment. Our construction furthermore demonstrates how the physical pictures of anomaly inflow and bulk-boundary correspondence extend to nonequilibrium systems. Finally, we demonstrate the independence of the gauge action of the underlying equilibrium or nonequilibrium nature of dynamics stabilizing the state.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.106.245204

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We derive the universal real-time U(1)\text{U}(1)U(1) topological gauge field action for mixed Dirac states of fermions, described by a density matrix weighted by a gapped Dirac operator, in all dimensions. The key prerequisites are charge quantization and charge conservation; in fact, charge quantization is the root of the action's topological properties. The gauge action encodes nonquantized linear responses as expected for mixed states, but also quantized nonlinear responses, which are accessible in experiment. Our construction furthermore demonstrates how the physical pictures of anomaly inflow and bulk-boundary correspondence extend to nonequilibrium systems. Finally, we demonstrate the independence of the gauge action of the underlying equilibrium or nonequilibrium nature of dynamics stabilizing the state.
Topological response of gapped fermions to a U(1)\text{U}(1)U(1) Gauge field
We present a detailed path integral derivation of the topological response of gapped free fermions, in 2+12+12+1 dimensions, to an external U(1)\text{U}(1)U(1) Gauge field. The well-known Hall response is obtained by identifying the Chern-Simons term in the effective action with the correct coefficient. We extend the result to 2d+12d+12d+1 dimensions in which the response is associated to a Chern-Simons term with a coefficient related to a characteristic class coming from topological band theory. We comment on the bulk-to-boundary principle which arises naturally when one considers the theory on a manifold with boundary.
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We calculate the topological part of the electromagnetic response of bosonic integer quantum Hall (BIQH) phases in odd (space-time) dimensions, and bosonic topological insulator (BTI) and bosonic chiral semimetal (BCSM) phases in even dimensions. To do this, we use the nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) description of bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases, and the method of gauged Wess-Zumino (WZ) actions. We find the surprising result that for BIQH states in dimension $2m\ensuremath{-}1$ $(m=1,2,\ensuremath{\cdots})$, the bulk response to an electromagnetic field ${A}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ is characterized by a Chern-Simons term for ${A}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ with a level quantized in integer multiples of m!m!m! (factorial). We also show that BTI states (which have an extra Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry) can exhibit a Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​-breaking quantum Hall effect on their boundaries, with this boundary quantum Hall effect described by a Chern-Simons term at level m!2\frac{m!}{2}2m!​. We show that the factor of m!m!m! can be understood by requiring gauge invariance of the exponential of the Chern-Simons term on a general Euclidean manifold, and we also use this argument to characterize the electromagnetic and gravitational responses of fermionic SPT phases with U(1)\text{U}(1)U(1) symmetry in all odd dimensions. We then use our gauged boundary actions for the BIQH and BTI states to (i) construct a bosonic analog of a chiral semimetal (BCSM) in even dimensions, (ii) show that the boundary of the BTI state exhibits a bosonic analog of the parity anomaly of Dirac fermions in odd dimensions, and (iii) study anomaly inflow at domain walls on the boundary of BTI states. In a series of Appendixes we derive important formulas and additional results. In particular, in Appendix A we use the connection between equivariant cohomology and gauged WZ actions to give a mathematical interpretation of the actions for the BIQH and BTI boundaries constructed in this paper.
While free fermion topological crystalline insulators have been largely classified, the analogous problem in the strongly interacting case has been only partially solved, and the relationship between the free and interacting classifications is not well understood. In this paper, we develop a characterization and classification of interacting, invertible fermionic topological phases in (2+12+12+1) dimensions with charge conservation, discrete magnetic translation, and MMM-fold point group rotation symmetries, which form the group ${G}_{f}=\text{U}{(1)}^{f}{\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}}_{\ensuremath{\phi}}[{\mathbb{Z}}^{2}\ensuremath{\rtimes}{\mathbb{Z}}_{M}]$ for M=1,2,3,4,and6M=1,2,3,4,\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{and}\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}6M=1,2,3,4,and6. $\ensuremath{\phi}$ is the magnetic flux per unit cell. We derive a topological response theory in terms of background crystalline gauge fields, which gives a complete classification of different phases and a physical characterization in terms of quantized response to symmetry defects. We then derive the same classification in terms of a set of real-space invariants ${{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Theta}}}_{\text{o}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}}$ that can be obtained from ground state expectation values of suitable partial rotation operators. We explicitly relate these real-space invariants to the quantized coefficients in the topological response theory, and find the dependence of the invariants on the chiral central charge ${c}_{\ensuremath{-}}$ of the invertible phase. Finally, when $\ensuremath{\phi}=0,$ we derive an explicit map between the free and interacting classifications.
Quantum anomalies arise when symmetries of a classical theory cannot be preserved upon quantization, leading to unconventional topological responses. A prominent example is the parity anomaly of a single two-dimensional Dirac fermion, which enforces a half-quantized Hall response. Anomaly inflow mechanism allows this effect to be observed at the surfaces of three-dimensional topological insulators, however, its realization in a genuinely two-dimensional system has remained elusive. Here we report the observation of a parity-anomalous Hall response at the critical point of a quantum Hall topological phase transition in a synthetic two-dimensional system of ultracold dysprosium atoms. By coupling a continuous spatial dimension to a finite synthetic dimension encoded in atomic spin states, we engineer tunable Chern bands with C = 0 and 1. At the transition, the bulk gap closes at a single Dirac point, where we observe a robust half-quantized Hall drift despite strong non-adiabatic excitations. We show that this response originates from the global structure of the band topology, is protected by an emergent parity symmetry at criticality, and disappears when parity is explicitly broken. Our work establishes synthetic quantum systems as a powerful platform to probe quantum anomalies and their interplay with topology and non-equilibrium dynamics.
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