Gapped phases of noninteracting fermions, with and without charge conservation and time‐reversal symmetry, are classified using Bott periodicity. The symmetry and spatial dimension determines a general universality class, which corresponds to one of the 2 types of complex and 8 types of real Clifford algebras. The phases within a given class are further characterized by a topological invariant, an element of some Abelian group that can be 0, Z, or Z2. The interface between two infinite phases with different topological numbers must carry some gapless mode. Topological properties of finite systems are described in terms of K‐homology. This classification is robust with respect to disorder, provided electron states near the Fermi energy are absent or localized. In some cases (e.g., integer quantum Hall systems) the K‐theoretic classification is stable to interactions, but a counterexample is also given.
Building on the ten-way symmetry classification of disordered fermions, the authors have recently given a homotopy-theoretic proof of Kitaev's ‘periodic table’ for topological insulators and superconductors. The present paper offers an introduction to the physical setting and the mathematical model used. Basic to the proof is the so-called diagonal map, a natural transformation akin to the Bott map of algebraic topology, which increases by one unit both the momentum-space dimension and the symmetry index of translation-invariant ground states of gapped free-fermion systems. This mapping is illustrated here with a few examples of interest. (Based on a talk delivered by the senior author at the Nobel Symposium on ‘New Forms of Matter: Topological Insulators and Superconductors’; Stockholm, 13–15 June, 2014.)
Abstract. Gapped phases of noninteracting fermions, with and without charge conservation and time-reversal symmetry, are classified using Bott periodicity. The symmetry and spatial dimension determines a general universality class, which corresponds to one of the 2 types of complex and 8 types of real Clifford algebras. The phases within a given class are further characterized by a topological invariant, an element of some Abelian group that can be 0, Z, or Z2. The interface between two infinite phases with different topological numbers must carry some gapless mode. Topological properties of finite systems are described in terms of K-homology. This classification is robust with respect to disorder, provided electron states near the Fermi energy are absent or localized. In some cases (e.g., integer quantum Hall systems) the K-theoretic classification is stable to interactions, but a counterexample is also given. Keywords: Topological phase, K-theory, K-homology, Clifford algebra, Bott periodicity
We propose a new method to numerically compute the
Z2 indices for disordered topological insulators in Kitaev's periodic table. All of the
Z2 indices are known to be derived from the index formulae which are expressed in terms of a pair of projections introduced by Avron, Seiler, and Simon. For a given pair of projections, the corresponding index is determined by the spectrum of the difference between the two projections. This difference exhibits remarkable and useful properties, as it is compact and has a supersymmetric structure in the spectrum. These properties make it possible to numerically determine the indices of disordered topological insulators highly efficiently. The method is demonstrated for the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang and Wilson-Dirac models whose topological phases are characterized by a
Z2 index in two and three dimensions, respectively.
This thesis contains a study of topological phases of matter, with a strong emphasis on symmetry as a unifying theme. We take the point of view that the "topology" in many examples of what is loosely termed "topological matter", has its origin in the symmetry data of the system in question. From the fundamental work of Wigner, we know that topology resides not only in the group of symmetries, but also in the cohomological data of projective unitary-antiunitary representations. Furthermore, recent ideas from condensed matter physics highlight the fundamental role of charge-conjugation symmetry. With these as physical motivation, we propose to study the topological features of gapped phases of free fermions through a Ζ2-graded C*-algebra encoding the symmetry data of their dynamics. In particular, each combination of time reversal and charge conjugation symmetries can be associated with a Clifford algebra. K-theory is intimately related to topology, representation theory, Clifford algebras, and Ζ2-gradings, so it presents itself as a powerful tool for studying gapped topological phases. Our basic strategy is to use various K-theoretic invariants of the symmetry algebra to classify symmetry-compatible gapped phases. The super-representation group of the algebra classifies such gapped phases, while its K-theoretic difference-group classifies the obstructions in passing between two such phases. Our approach is a noncommutative version of the twisted K-theory approach of Freed--Moore, and generalises the K-theoretic classification first suggested by Kitaev. It has the advantage of conceptual simplicity in its uniform treatment of all symmetries. Physically, it encompasses phenomena which require noncommutative algebras in their description; mathematically, it clarifies and provides rigour to the meaning of "homotopic phases", and easily explains the salient features of Kitaev's Periodic Table.
Quantum phases of matter can be classified into two kinds: gapped or gapless, depending on whether the equilibrium ground state is separated from excited states by a finite energy window or not in the thermodynamic limit. Topology has played an important role in the understanding of both gapped and gapless phases of matter. This thesis uncovers several robust physical properties of both kinds of systems which are largely unexplored before. \\ For gapped systems, we study topological orders, which are characterized by the existence of anyonic quasiparticles with fractional braiding statistics. In the first part, we introduce a family of Abelian quantum Hall insulators, at filling factors
ν=p/2q for bosonic systems and
ν=p/(p+2q) for fermionic systems, with
p and
q being two coprime integers. These states are termed the \textit{nondiagonal} quantum Hall states, which are constructed in a coupled wire model that exhibits an intimate relation to the nondiagonal conformal field theory and has a constrained pattern of motion for anyons. We unveil a nontrivial interplay between charge symmetry and translation symmetry in this system, and establish the nondiagonal quantum Hall states as symmetry-enriched topological orders. In the second part, we introduce a related model of interacting electrons, but in the absence of a strong quantizing magnetic field, known as the \textit{toric code insulator}. It is constructed from a two-dimensional array of strongly coupled one-dimensional topological superconductors, which feature electron fractionalization and possesses anyonic excitations described by the
Z2 topological order. The motion of anyons is again constrained, and different types of anyons can be related by the translation symmetry. Nondiagonal quantum Hall states and the toric code insulator are convincing examples that itinerant electronic systems can realize interesting symmetry-enriched topological orders.\\ For gapless quantum matters we focus on a particularly familiar class, the metals, but we uncover their topological aspects which were much less appreciated. Every metal is characterized by a Fermi surface of gapless excitations, and the Fermi surface surrounds a manifold in the momentum space, known as the Fermi sea. The ground state of a non-interacting metal, or a Fermi gas, consists of all single-electron states within the Fermi sea. The shape of the Fermi sea has a natural topological characterization in terms of the Euler characteristic
χF, and a fundamental question that we address in this thesis is: \textbf{does
χF imply any robust physical properties in metals, and how can they be measured?} In the third part of the thesis,
χF is connected to physically measurable quantities, such as equal-time density-density correlation functions, and multipartite entanglement measures, such as the mutual information. Particularly, for three dimensions, we establish that the 4-partite mutual information is a robust probe of the Fermi sea topology even in the presence of Fermi-liquid interactions. In the last part, we focus on two dimensions, and propose an experimentally accessible platform to probe
χF for any two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) that respects time-reversal symmetry. The proposed experimental setup is a Josephson
π-junction, and we predict that the electrical transport in the direction \textit{along} the junction exhibits a current-rectification effect that is controlled by the underlying Fermi sea topology. Due to the relation to Andreev state transport, we term this effect \textit{topological Andreev rectification}. The size of rectification is quantified by a \textit{nonlocal rectified conductance}, which is established to attain an integer quantized value that equals
χF (in unit of
e2/h). Extensive numerical simulations are performed to support our theoretical proposal, and material platforms such as InAs heterostructures and graphene are identified as promising candidates to demonstrate this effect.