English

Generic reduction theory for Fermi sea topology in metallic systems

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2025-05-06 v4 Quantum Gases Superconductivity

Abstract

The Fermi sea of a metal can host exotic quantum topology, which governs its conductance quantization and is characterized by the Euler characteristic (χF\chi_F). In contrast to the well-known band topology, which is determined by the global features of wave functions, the topology of such metallic systems is intrinsically linked to the geometry of the Fermi sea. As a result, probing and identifying χF\chi_F in high-dimensional systems presents a challenge. Here, we propose a generic dimensional reduction theory for the Fermi sea topology in dd-dimensional metallic systems, showing that χF\chi_F can be determined by the features of so-called reduced critical points on Fermi surfaces. Moreover, we reveal that χF\chi_F can be interpreted as a topological invariant of band topology by mapping a metallic system to a gapped system. Building on this nontrivial result, we identify a broad class of topological superconductors (SCs) whose topological numbers are precisely determined by the χF\chi_F of their normally filled bands. This provides an indirect method to capture χF\chi_F by measuring the (pseudo)spin polarizations of these topological SCs. Our findings are expected to significantly advance research into Fermi sea topology.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2403.19125,
  title  = {Generic reduction theory for Fermi sea topology in metallic systems},
  author = {Wei Jia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.19125},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, References are updated