Band-Structure-Independent Topology from Nonsymmorphic Wannier Complexes
Abstract
Nonsymmorphic symmetries can enforce band connectivity that obstructs a single-band Wannier description. We show that a fractional translation connecting distinct high-symmetry Wyckoff positions generically renders the Wannier center of an individual band gauge ill-defined, requiring a symmetry-enforced multiband object -- a Wannier complex. We formulate a real-space topological classification of Wannier complexes and show that, when is combined with certain point-group symmetries (notably and ), all symmetry-allowed Wannier-complex configurations carry a nontrivial quantized total electric polarization. This yields boundary phenomena that persist across symmetry-preserving deformations of the Hamiltonian, including parameter regimes with and without bulk gaps. We demonstrate the mechanism in minimal tight-binding models exhibiting M{\"o}bius-twisted Wilson-loop structures and higher-order corner modes, and propose experimental signatures in a dielectric photonic crystal and a first-principles electronic platform octa-graphene, accompanied by a three-dimensional extension.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2405.14165,
title = {Band-Structure-Independent Topology from Nonsymmorphic Wannier Complexes},
author = {Qinghua He and Jie Zhang and Shengdan Tao and Hai-yao Deng and Qifeng Liang and Wenlong Gao and Feng Liu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.14165},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
11 pages, 13 figures