Interacting topological quantum chemistry in 2D with many-body real space invariants

Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman, B. Andrei Bernevig, Zhi Da Song

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The topological phases of non-interacting fermions have been classified by their symmetries, culminating in a modern electronic band theory where wavefunction topology can be obtained from momentum space. Recently, Real Space Invariants (RSIs) have provided a spatially local description of the global momentum space indices. The present work generalizes this real space classification to interacting 2D states. We construct many-body local RSIs as the quantum numbers of a set of symmetry operators on open boundaries, but which are independent of the choice of boundary. Using the U(1) particle number, they yield many-body fragile topological indices, which we use to identify which single-particle fragile states are many-body topological or trivial at weak coupling. To this end, we construct an exactly solvable Hamiltonian with single-particle fragile topology that is adiabatically connected to a trivial state through strong coupling. We then define global many-body RSIs on periodic boundary conditions. They reduce to Chern numbers in the band theory limit, but also identify strongly correlated stable topological phases with no single-particle counterpart. Finally, we show that the many-body local RSIs appear as quantized coefficients of Wen-Zee terms in the topological quantum field theory describing the phase.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1171
JournalNature communications
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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