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Quantized charge polarization as a many-body invariant in (2+1)D crystalline topological states and Hofstadter butterflies

ORAL

Abstract

We show how topological phases of matter in (2+1)D can possess a non-trivial intrinsic quantized charge polarization P, even in the presence of non-zero Chern number and magnetic field. For invertible topological states, P is a Z2 × Z2, Z3, Z2, or Z1 topological invariant in the presence of M = 2, 3, 4, or 6-fold rotational symmetry, lattice (magnetic) translational symmetry, and charge conservation. P manifests in the bulk of the system as (i) a fractional quantized contribution of P · b mod 1 to the charge bound to lattice disclinations and dislocations with Burgers vector b, (ii) a notion of linear momentum for additionally inserted magnetic flux, and (iii) an oscillatory system size dependent contribution to the effective 1d polarization on a cylinder. We study P in a variety of tight-binding models of spinless free fermions in a magnetic field. We derive predictions from topological field theory, which we match to numerical calculations for the effects (i)-(iii), demonstrating that these can be used to extract P from microscopic models in an intrinsically many-body way. We show how, given a high symmetry point O, there is a corresponding discrete shift SO, such that P specifies the dependence of SO on O. We derive colored Hofstadter butterflies, corresponding to the quantized value of P, which further refine the colored butterflies from the Chern number and discrete shift.

Publication: "Quantized charge polarization as a many-body invariant in (2+1)D crystalline topological states and Hofstadter butterflies", (to appear)

Presenters

  • Naren Manjunath

    University of Maryland College Park

Authors

  • Naren Manjunath

    University of Maryland College Park

  • Maissam Barkeshli

    Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Gautam Nambiar

    University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland

  • Yuxuan Zhang

    University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland, College Park