Topological insulators and C^*-algebras: theory and numerical practice

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2010.12.013zbMATH Open1235.19003arXiv1012.1019OpenAlexW2079640725MaRDI QIDQ550602FDOQ550602

M. B. Hastings, Terry A. Loring

Publication date: 13 July 2011

Published in: Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We apply ideas from $C^{*}$-algebra to the study of disordered topological insulators. We extract certain almost commuting matrices from the free Fermi Hamiltonian, describing band projected coordinate matrices. By considering topological obstructions to approximating these matrices by exactly commuting matrices, we are able to compute invariants quantifying different topological phases. We generalize previous two dimensional results to higher dimensions; we give a general expression for the topological invariants for arbitrary dimension and several symmetry classes, including chiral symmetry classes, and we present a detailed $K$-theory treatment of this expression for time reversal invariant three dimensional systems. We can use these results to show non-existence of localized Wannier functions for these systems. We use this approach to calculate the index for time-reversal invariant systems with spin-orbit scattering in three dimensions, on sizes up to $12^3$, averaging over a large number of samples. The results show an interesting separation between the localization transition and the point at which the average index (which can be viewed as an "order parameter" for the topological insulator) begins to fluctuate from sample too sample, implying the existence of an unsuspected quantum phase transition separating two different delocalized phases in this system. One of the particular advantages of the $C^{*}$-algebraic technique that we present is that it is significantly faster in practice than other methods of computing the index, allowing the study of larger systems. In this paper, we present a detailed discussion of numerical implementation of our method.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1019

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zbMATH Keywords

\(K\)-theorytopological insulators\(C^{*}\)-algebrachiral symmetry

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General theory of (C^*)-algebras (46L05) (K)-theory and operator algebras (including cyclic theory) (46L80) Finite-dimensional groups and algebras motivated by physics and their representations (81R05) Miscellaneous applications of (K)-theory (19M05)

Cites Work

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• THE OPERATORK-FUNCTOR AND EXTENSIONS OFC*-ALGEBRAS
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• Almost commuting matrices, localized Wannier functions, and the quantum Hall effect
• When matrices commute
• Topology and phases in fermionic systems
• Making almost commuting matrices commute
• Invariants of almost commuting unitaries
• Lifting of nilpotent contractions
• Banach algebras and Bott periodicity
• Least squares, singular values and matrix approximations

Cited In (26)

• Almost commuting orthogonal matrices
• On the Bott index of unitary matrices on a finite torus
• A \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-topological index for quasi-free fermions
• Pictures of \(KK\)-theory for real \(C^*\)-algebras and almost commuting matrices
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The noncommutative index theorem and the periodic table for disordered topological insulators and superconductors
• Index pairings in presence of symmetries with applications to topological insulators
• The \(\mathbb{Z}_{2}\) index of disordered topological insulators with time reversal symmetry
• Wave-packet propagation in a finite topological insulator and the spectral localizer index
• \(K\)-theory and pseudospectra for topological insulators
• Real-space approach for the Euler class and fragile topology in quasicrystals and amorphous lattices
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• On mathematical problems in the theory of topological insulators
• Almost commuting matrices, localized Wannier functions, and the quantum Hall effect
• Topological insulators from the perspective of non-commutative geometry and index theory
• Estimating Norms of Commutators
• The spectral localizer for even index pairings
• Estimating bulk and edge topological indices in finite open chiral chains
• A non-commutative framework for topological insulators
• Bulk spectrum and K-theory for infinite-area topological quasicrystals
• Almost commuting unitary matrices related to time reversal
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Computing a logarithm of a unitary matrix with general spectrum
• Cyclic cocycles and quantized pairings in materials science
• Factorization of matrices of quaternions
• Almost commuting matrices, cohomology, and dimension

Uses Software

• mftoolbox

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