Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2511.10163

Measurement protocol for detecting correlated topological insulators in synthetic quantum systems

Yixin Ma, Chao Xu, Shenghan Jiang

cond-mat.str-elquant-phSubmitted Nov 13, 2025• Announced Nov 14, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Two-dimensional topological insulators, characterized by symmetry-protected anomalous boundary modes, have been generalized to the strongly correlated regime for both bosonic and fermionic systems. As correlated topological insulators (TI) approach experimental realization in quantum simulators, conventional probes, such as transport measurements, are not easily applicable to these synthetic platforms. In this study, we focus on two examples of correlated TI: a bosonic TI protected by $\mathbb{Z}_2\times U(1)$ symmetry and the fermionic quantum spin Hall insulator protected by time-reversal symmetry. We propose a unified, readily implementable protocol based on measuring the disorder parameter $\langle\exp(\mathrm{i}θ\hat{Q}_A)\rangle$ for a large subregion $A$, with $\hat{Q}_A$ the total charge operator within $A$. Our key finding is that this quantity exhibits non-analytical dependence on $θ$ for correlated TI, a signature robust against decoherence. We establish this diagnostic through both numerical simulations and analytical derivations. This protocol is well-suited for implementation on near-term quantum simulation platforms, providing a direct route to experimentally confirm correlated TI.

Comments
7+11 pages, 4+2 figures

Related papers

Symmetry-Protected Topological Phase in a One-Dimensional Correlated Bosonic Model with a Synthetic Spin-Orbit Coupling

Jize Zhao, Shijie Hu, Ping Zhang

By performing large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations, we investigate a one-dimensional correlated bosonic lattice model with a synthetic spin-orbit coupling realized in recent experiments. In the insulating regime, this model exhibits a symmetry-protected topological phase. This symmetry-protected topological phase is stabilized by time-reversal symmetry and it is identified as a Haldane phase. We confirm our conclusions further by analyzing the entanglement spectrum. In addition, we find four conventional phases: a Mott insulating phase with no long range order, a ferromagnetic superfluid phase, a ferromagnetic insulating phase, and a density-wave phase.

arXiv:1510.04554•Physical Review Letters•Nov 3, 2015•13 citations

Quantum Monte Carlo study of strange correlator in interacting topological insulators

Han-Qing Wu, Yuan-Yao He, Yi‐Zhuang You +3 more

Distinguishing the nontrivial symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase from the trivial insulator phase in the presence of electron-electron interaction is an urgent question to the study of topological insulators, due to the fact that most of the topological indices defined for free electron systems are very likely unsuitable for interacting cases. In this work, we demonstrate that the strange correlator is a sensitive diagnosis to detect SPT states in interacting systems. Employing large-scale quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we investigate the interaction-driven quantum phase transition in the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model. The transition from the quantum spin Hall insulator at weak interaction to an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at strong interaction can be readily detected by the momentum space behavior of the strange correlator in single-particle, spin, and pairing sectors. The interaction effects on the symmetry-protected edge states in various sectors, i.e., the helical Luttinger liquid behavior, are well captured in the QMC measurements of strange correlators. Moreover, we demonstrate that the strange correlator is technically easier to implement in QMC and more robust in performance than other proposed numerical diagnoses for interacting topological states, as only static correlations are needed. The attempt in this work paves the way for using the strange correlator to study interaction-driven topological phase transitions in fermionic as well as bosonic systems.

arXiv:1506.00549•Physical Review B•Oct 21, 2015•32 citations

THE CHARACTERIZATION OF TOPOLOGICAL PROPERTIES IN QUANTUM MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS OF THE KANE–MELE–HUBBARD MODEL

Zi Yang Meng, Hsiang-Hsuan Hung, Thomas C. Lang

Topological insulators present a bulk gap, but allow for dissipationless spin transport along the edges. These exotic states are characterized by the Z2 topological invariant and are protected by time-reversal symmetry. The Kane–Mele model is one model to realize this topological class in two dimensions, also called the quantum spin Hall state. In this brief review article, we provide a pedagogical introduction to the influence of correlation effects in the quantum spin Hall states, with special focus on the half-filled Kane–Mele–Hubbard model, solved by means of unbiased determinant quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations. We explain the idea of identifying the topological insulator via π-flux insertion, the Z2 invariant and the associated behavior of the zero-frequency Green's function, as well as the spin Chern number in parameter-driven topological phase transitions. The examples considered are two descendants of the Kane–Mele–Hubbard model, the generalized and dimerized Kane–Mele–Hubbard model. From the Z2 index, spin Chern numbers and the Green's function behavior, one can observe that correlation effects induce shifts of the topological phase boundaries. Although the implementation of these topological quantities has been successfully employed in QMC simulations to describe the topological phase transition, we also point out their limitations as well as suggest possible future directions in using numerical methods to characterize topological properties of strongly correlated condensed matter systems.

arXiv:1310.6064•Modern Physics Letters B•Nov 26, 2013•37 citations

Interacting crystalline topological insulators in two-dimensions with time-reversal symmetry

Martina O. Soldini, Ömer M. Aksoy, Titus Neupert

Topology is routinely used to understand the physics of electronic insulators. However, for strongly interacting electronic matter, such as Mott insulators, a comprehensive topological characterization is still lacking. When their ground state only contains short-range entanglement and does not break symmetries spontaneously, they generically realize crystalline fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases (cFSPTs), supporting gapless modes at the boundaries or at the lattice defects. Here, we provide an exhaustive classification of cFSPTs in two dimensions with U ( 1 ) charge-conservation and spinful time-reversal symmetries, namely, those generically present in spin-orbit coupled insulators, for any of the 17 wallpaper groups. It has been shown that the classification of cFSPTs can be understood from appropriate real-space decorations of lower-dimensional subspaces, and we expose how these relate to the Wyckoff positions of the lattice. We find that all nontrivial one-dimensional decorations require electronic interactions. Furthermore, we provide model Hamiltonians for various decorations, and discuss the signatures of cFSPTs. This classification paves the way to further explore topological interacting insulators, providing the backbone information in generic model systems and ultimately in experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2404.11650•Physical Review Research•Aug 22, 2024•3 citations

Interacting crystalline topological insulators in two-dimensions with time-reversal symmetry

Martina O. Soldini, Ömer M. Aksoy, Titus Neupert

Topology is routinely used to understand the physics of electronic insulators. However, for strongly interacting electronic matter, such as Mott insulators, a comprehensive topological characterization is still lacking. When their ground state only contains short-range entanglement and does not break symmetries spontaneously, they generically realize crystalline fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases (cFSPTs), supporting gapless modes at the boundaries or at the lattice defects. Here, we provide an exhaustive classification of cFSPTs in two dimensions with charge-conservation and spinful time-reversal symmetries, namely, those generically present in spin-orbit coupled insulators, for any of the 17 wallpaper groups. It has been shown that the classification of cFSPTs can be understood from appropriate real-space decorations of lower-dimensional subspaces, and we expose how these relate to the Wyckoff positions of the lattice. We find that all nontrivial one-dimensional decorations require electronic interactions. Furthermore, we provide model Hamiltonians for various decorations, and discuss the signatures of cFSPTs. This classification paves the way to further explore topological interacting insulators, providing the backbone information in generic model systems and ultimately in experiments.

•Aug 22, 2024•2 citations

Diagnosis of mixed-state topological phases in strongly correlated systems via disorder parameters

Shi, Shao-Hang, Xiao-Qi Sun, Li, Zi-Xiang

Characterizing topological phases for strongly interacting fermions in the mixed-state regime remains a major challenge. Here we introduce a general and numerically efficient framework to diagnose mixed-state topological phases in strongly interacting systems via the disorder parameter (DP) of the U(1) charge operator. Specifically, from the finite-size scaling of the second derivative of the DP generating function, we introduce the topological scaling indicator, which exhibits a characteristic linear scaling with the system's linear dimension for topological phases, a signature that vanishes upon transition into a topologically trivial phase. Crucially, we develop an efficient determinant Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm that facilitates the evaluation of this indicator in interacting systems. We apply our approach to two paradigmatic models: for the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model, we successfully map the interaction-driven transition from a quantum spin Hall insulator to a trivial Mott insulator. Furthermore, our method circumvents the limitations imposed by the severe sign problem in the Haldane-Hubbard model, enabling robust identification of the quantum anomalous Hall phase at accessible temperatures. This work provides a powerful and accessible tool for the numerical exploration of topological phenomena in interacting mixed states, opening a pathway to study systems previously inaccessible due to computational obstacles.

arXiv:2511.19311•Nov 24, 2025•0 citations
Two-dimensional topological insulators, characterized by symmetry-protected anomalous boundary modes, have been generalized to the strongly correlated regime for both bosonic and fermionic systems. As correlated topological insulators (TI) approach experimental realization in quantum simulators, conventional probes, such as transport measurements, are not easily applicable to these synthetic platforms. In this study, we focus on two examples of correlated TI: a bosonic TI protected by Z2×U(1)\mathbb{Z}_2\times U(1)Z2​×U(1) symmetry and the fermionic quantum spin Hall insulator protected by time-reversal symmetry. We propose a unified, readily implementable protocol based on measuring the disorder parameter ⟨exp⁡(iθQ^A)⟩\langle\exp(\mathrm{i}θ\hat{Q}_A)\rangle⟨exp(iθQ^​A​)⟩ for a large subregion AAA, with Q^A\hat{Q}_AQ^​A​ the total charge operator within AAA. Our key finding is that this quantity exhibits non-analytical dependence on θθθ for correlated TI, a signature robust against decoherence. We establish this diagnostic through both numerical simulations and analytical derivations. This protocol is well-suited for implementation on near-term quantum simulation platforms, providing a direct route to experimentally confirm correlated TI.
By performing large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations, we investigate a one-dimensional correlated bosonic lattice model with a synthetic spin-orbit coupling realized in recent experiments. In the insulating regime, this model exhibits a symmetry-protected topological phase. This symmetry-protected topological phase is stabilized by time-reversal symmetry and it is identified as a Haldane phase. We confirm our conclusions further by analyzing the entanglement spectrum. In addition, we find four conventional phases: a Mott insulating phase with no long range order, a ferromagnetic superfluid phase, a ferromagnetic insulating phase, and a density-wave phase.
Distinguishing the nontrivial symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase from the trivial insulator phase in the presence of electron-electron interaction is an urgent question to the study of topological insulators, due to the fact that most of the topological indices defined for free electron systems are very likely unsuitable for interacting cases. In this work, we demonstrate that the strange correlator is a sensitive diagnosis to detect SPT states in interacting systems. Employing large-scale quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we investigate the interaction-driven quantum phase transition in the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model. The transition from the quantum spin Hall insulator at weak interaction to an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at strong interaction can be readily detected by the momentum space behavior of the strange correlator in single-particle, spin, and pairing sectors. The interaction effects on the symmetry-protected edge states in various sectors, i.e., the helical Luttinger liquid behavior, are well captured in the QMC measurements of strange correlators. Moreover, we demonstrate that the strange correlator is technically easier to implement in QMC and more robust in performance than other proposed numerical diagnoses for interacting topological states, as only static correlations are needed. The attempt in this work paves the way for using the strange correlator to study interaction-driven topological phase transitions in fermionic as well as bosonic systems.
Topological insulators present a bulk gap, but allow for dissipationless spin transport along the edges. These exotic states are characterized by the Z2 topological invariant and are protected by time-reversal symmetry. The Kane–Mele model is one model to realize this topological class in two dimensions, also called the quantum spin Hall state. In this brief review article, we provide a pedagogical introduction to the influence of correlation effects in the quantum spin Hall states, with special focus on the half-filled Kane–Mele–Hubbard model, solved by means of unbiased determinant quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations. We explain the idea of identifying the topological insulator via π-flux insertion, the Z2 invariant and the associated behavior of the zero-frequency Green's function, as well as the spin Chern number in parameter-driven topological phase transitions. The examples considered are two descendants of the Kane–Mele–Hubbard model, the generalized and dimerized Kane–Mele–Hubbard model. From the Z2 index, spin Chern numbers and the Green's function behavior, one can observe that correlation effects induce shifts of the topological phase boundaries. Although the implementation of these topological quantities has been successfully employed in QMC simulations to describe the topological phase transition, we also point out their limitations as well as suggest possible future directions in using numerical methods to characterize topological properties of strongly correlated condensed matter systems.
Topology is routinely used to understand the physics of electronic insulators. However, for strongly interacting electronic matter, such as Mott insulators, a comprehensive topological characterization is still lacking. When their ground state only contains short-range entanglement and does not break symmetries spontaneously, they generically realize crystalline fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases (cFSPTs), supporting gapless modes at the boundaries or at the lattice defects. Here, we provide an exhaustive classification of cFSPTs in two dimensions with U ( 1 ) charge-conservation and spinful time-reversal symmetries, namely, those generically present in spin-orbit coupled insulators, for any of the 17 wallpaper groups. It has been shown that the classification of cFSPTs can be understood from appropriate real-space decorations of lower-dimensional subspaces, and we expose how these relate to the Wyckoff positions of the lattice. We find that all nontrivial one-dimensional decorations require electronic interactions. Furthermore, we provide model Hamiltonians for various decorations, and discuss the signatures of cFSPTs. This classification paves the way to further explore topological interacting insulators, providing the backbone information in generic model systems and ultimately in experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Topology is routinely used to understand the physics of electronic insulators. However, for strongly interacting electronic matter, such as Mott insulators, a comprehensive topological characterization is still lacking. When their ground state only contains short-range entanglement and does not break symmetries spontaneously, they generically realize crystalline fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases (cFSPTs), supporting gapless modes at the boundaries or at the lattice defects. Here, we provide an exhaustive classification of cFSPTs in two dimensions with charge-conservation and spinful time-reversal symmetries, namely, those generically present in spin-orbit coupled insulators, for any of the 17 wallpaper groups. It has been shown that the classification of cFSPTs can be understood from appropriate real-space decorations of lower-dimensional subspaces, and we expose how these relate to the Wyckoff positions of the lattice. We find that all nontrivial one-dimensional decorations require electronic interactions. Furthermore, we provide model Hamiltonians for various decorations, and discuss the signatures of cFSPTs. This classification paves the way to further explore topological interacting insulators, providing the backbone information in generic model systems and ultimately in experiments.
Characterizing topological phases for strongly interacting fermions in the mixed-state regime remains a major challenge. Here we introduce a general and numerically efficient framework to diagnose mixed-state topological phases in strongly interacting systems via the disorder parameter (DP) of the U(1) charge operator. Specifically, from the finite-size scaling of the second derivative of the DP generating function, we introduce the topological scaling indicator, which exhibits a characteristic linear scaling with the system's linear dimension for topological phases, a signature that vanishes upon transition into a topologically trivial phase. Crucially, we develop an efficient determinant Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm that facilitates the evaluation of this indicator in interacting systems. We apply our approach to two paradigmatic models: for the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model, we successfully map the interaction-driven transition from a quantum spin Hall insulator to a trivial Mott insulator. Furthermore, our method circumvents the limitations imposed by the severe sign problem in the Haldane-Hubbard model, enabling robust identification of the quantum anomalous Hall phase at accessible temperatures. This work provides a powerful and accessible tool for the numerical exploration of topological phenomena in interacting mixed states, opening a pathway to study systems previously inaccessible due to computational obstacles.