Chapter 31 discussed the generic O(N) non-linear σ-model. We have noticed that the abelian case N = 2 is special because the RG β-function vanishes in two dimensions. The corresponding O(2) invariant spin model is specially interesting: it provides an example of the celebrated Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition and will be examined in Chapter 33. However, a thorough discussion of this model requires a new technique: we have to establish relations, special to two dimensions, between fermion and boson local field theories, by a method called bosonization. This chapter illustrates the derivation involves several steps with the help of various other two-dimensional models which are physically interesting in their own right. It first studies the free massless boson and fermion fields. It evaluates the determinant of the covariant fermion derivative in the presence of an external gauge field. The result is at the basis of the bosonization technique. The chapter then discusses the sine–Gordon (SG) model. It solves the Schwinger model, QED with massless fermions. Finally, it demonstrates the equivalence between the SG model and two fermion models with current-current interaction: the Thirring model and another model with two species of fermions.
This chapter presents the microscopic theory of a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas based on an ab initio functional approach to the many-body problem developed by V. A. Khodel et al. and V. R. Shaginyan. It discusses the detailed structure of the theory and scheme of the numerical solution of relevant equations. The chapter also discusses the method of evaluation of the single-particle spectrum of a 2D electron gas. It examines the behavior of a 2D electron gas in external magnetic fields. The chapter focuses on the disappearance of magnetic oscillations in electron systems of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors due to merging of spin- and valley-split Landau levels in silicon, being the topological rearrangement of the Landau state, analogous to the formation of the fermion condensate. It explores the impact of the violation of the equidistance of electron spectra in strong magnetic fields on the structure of magnetic oscillations near the critical density.
Understanding the interplay between symmetries and phases lies at the heart of characterizing states of matter. The conventional Landau's paradigm associates local ordered states with symmetry breaking, but this paradigm fails to include gapped topological phases, which can only be distinguished by the global topological invariant and the present of gapless edge modes at open boundaries. In this thesis, variety of states of matter is enriched from two aspects: a new paradigm of phases that incorporates both symmetry broken phase and topological phase, and exotic topological phases that are realized in different degree of freedoms of the same system. The two aspects are explored by studying corresponding one dimensional fermionic models. Besides gapped phases, exotic quasiparticle interferences of gapless topological systems are also investigated. \n \nThe first chapter serves as a theoretical basis for the next two chapters by giving an introduction to topological phases in one dimension. In particular, a bosonization method is introduced to describe topological degeneracy and edge zero modes, which is favoured by the ability to deal with interactions as well as to uncover the phenomena of spin-charge separation. \n \nIn the second chapter a new paradigm of phases is proposed and investigated that incorporates both symmetry broken phases and symmetry-protected topological phases. Through exact-solvable models bond spin density wave(BSDW) states are proposed as candidates for this new paradigm, which are
ZZ2 symmetry breaking due to spontaneous dimerization and yet each is topological nontrivial with edge zero modes of fractional fermions. More general lattice models are constructed, and it is shown that BSDW exists in a considerable regime of parameters for a family of lattice models, from both mean-field analysis and bosonization. \n \nIn the third chapter, we give an effective field description for spin-charge separated edge modes consisting of both Majorana modes and fractional fermions, and demonstrate how to harvest both simultaneously in a spinless fermionic ladder with particle-hole symmetry and single-chain fermion parity. Further, the idea of spin-charge separated edge modes is applied to reinterpret the prominent Haldane phase of spin-1 chain in its equivalent spin-
frac12 fermionic model. \n \nIn contrast to the above two theoretically oriented topics that aim to add variety to topological phases, the third topic establishes a bridge between abstract concepts for topological systems to remarkable features that can be detected in experiments. The last chapter reveals how topological charges for topological Fermi points, through exhibiting exotic quasiparticle interference in the presence of impurities, could be visualized in STS measurements. \nThe generalized joint density of states(GJDOS) is applied to address effects from the geometry of band dispersion and topological charges separately. Both analytical results and numerical simulation suggest distinct and robust quasiparticle interference features as indicators for topological charges that can be accessed by FT-STS experiments.