Surface-state spin textures and mirror Chern numbers in topological Kondo insulators

Abstract

The recent discovery of topological Kondo insulators has triggered renewed interest in the well-known Kondo insulator samarium hexaboride, which is hypothesized to belong to this family. In this Letter, we study the spin texture of the topologically protected surface states in such a topological Kondo insulator. In particular, we derive close relationships between (i) the form of the hybridization matrix at certain high-symmetry points, (ii) the mirror Chern numbers of the system, and (iii) the observable spin texture of the topological surface states. In this way, a robust classification of topological Kondo insulators and their surface-state spin texture is achieved. We underpin our findings with numerical calculations of several simplified and realistic models for systems like samarium hexaboride.

4 + 4 pages, 3 + 3 figures; published version