English

A Single-Particle Diagnosis of an Interacting Topological Insulator

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2026-03-13 v1

Abstract

Understanding how topology survives in strongly correlated systems remains a central challenge, as most topological diagnostics rely on non-interacting band structures. Here we present a framework to characterize interacting topological phases within an effective single-particle description derived from the single-particle Green's function. Using the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with Hatsugai-Kohmoto interactions as an analytically tractable example, we construct the one-body reduced density matrix from the Green's function and use it to define an effective winding number together with quantum volume, a measurement of state geometry. These quantities allow us to distinguish three insulating phases including correlated Mott states directly from single-particle observables. Our results show that interacting topology can be interpreted in terms of the spectral weight distribution of single-particle excitations, providing an intuitive and computationally accessible route to diagnose topological phases in correlated systems. This approach is compatible with modern many-body simulation techniques and opens a pathway toward the identification of interacting topological materials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.11879,
  title  = {A Single-Particle Diagnosis of an Interacting Topological Insulator},
  author = {Theo N. Dionne and Maia G. Vergniory},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.11879},
  year   = {2026}
}