Interacting Chern Insulator in Infinite Spatial Dimensions

Abstract

We study a generic model of a Chern insulator supplemented by a Hubbard interaction in arbitrary even dimension $D$ and demonstrate that the model remains well-defined and nontrivial in the $D\to \infty$ limit. Dynamical mean-field theory is applicable and predicts a phase diagram with a continuum of topologically different phases separating a correlated Mott insulator from the trivial band insulator. We discuss various features, such as the elusive distinction between insulating and semi-metal states, which are unconventional already in the non-interacting case. Topological phases are characterized by a non-quantized Chern density replacing the Chern number as $D\to \infty$.

6+6 pages, 2+6 figures, v2 as published