Dual Topology as a Fingerprint of Relativistic Altermagnetism in AgF Monolayer
arXiv:2508.15944
Abstract
Altermagnets have emerged as a fertile ground for quantum phenomena, but topological phases unifying different quasiparticles remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that monolayer AgF hosts a dual topological state, driven by a single ferroelastic distortion. This polar transition breaks inversion symmetry and unleashes relativistic spin-orbit effects, simultaneously imparting non-trivial topology to electrons and magnons. The result is valence bands with opposite Chern numbers, , and a magnon spectrum with a full topological gap and chiral bands, . This work realizes topological altermagnonics in a tangible material platform, with a clear experimental fingerprint in the transverse thermal Hall effect. The coexistence of fermionic and bosonic topology in AgF opens new directions for designing intrinsically hybrid quantum matter.
10 pages, 7 figures