Delocalization of boundary states in disordered topological insulators

Abstract

We use the method of bulk-boundary correspondence of topological invariants to show that disordered topological insulators have at least one delocalized state at their boundary at zero energy. Those insulators which do not have chiral (sublattice) symmetry have in addition the whole band of delocalized states at their boundary, with the zero energy state lying in the middle of the band. This result was previously conjectured based on the anticipated properties of the supersymmetric (or replicated) sigma models with WZW-type terms, as well as verified in some cases using numerical simulations and a variety of other arguments. Here we derive this result generally, in arbitrary number of dimensions, and without relying on the description in the language of sigma models.

6 pages, 2 figures

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• Transport of Dirac electrons in a random magnetic field in topological heterostructures
• Topology of ultra-localized insulators and superconductors
• How spectrum-wide quantum criticality protects surface states of topological superconductors from Anderson localization: Quantum Hall plateau transitions (almost) all the way down