Persistence of phase boundaries between a topological and trivial Z2 insulator
arXiv:1207.0581 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.87.035115
Abstract
When time reversal symmetry is present there is a sharp distinction between topological and trivial band insulators which ensures that, as parameters are varied, these phases are separated by a phase transition at which the bulk gap closes. Surprisingly we find that even in the absence of time reversal symmetry, gapless regions originating from the phase boundaries persist. Moreover the critical line generically opens up to enclose Chern insulating phases that are thin but of finite extent in the phase diagram. We explain the topological origin of this effect in terms of quantized charge pumping, showing in particular that it is robust to the effect of disorder and interactions.
References in corpus (14)
- Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
- Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
- Electronic Structure of Pyrochlore Iridates: From Topological Dirac Metal to Mott Insulator
- A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase : Experimental observation of first strong topological insulator
- Weyl Semimetal in a Topological Insulator Multilayer
- Dirac semimetal in three dimensions
- Topological Defects and Gapless Modes in Insulators and Superconductors
- Quantum Hall Effect from the Topological Surface States of Strained Bulk HgTe
- Time-reversal-symmetry-broken quantum spin Hall effect
- Topological Insulators and Mott Physics from the Hubbard Interaction
- Tuning phase transition between quantum spin Hall and ordinary insulating phases
- Quantum Monte Carlo Study of an Interaction-Driven Band Insulator to Metal Transition
- Metallic phase in the two-dimensional ionic Hubbard model
- Quantized pumping and phase diagram topology of interacting bosons