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Homotopy of periodic two by two matrices

Mathematical Physics 2024-02-21 v3 math.MP

Abstract

We describe the homotopy classes of 2 by 2 periodic simple (=non-degenerate) matrices with various symmetries. This turns out to be an elementary exercise in the homotopy of closed curves in three dimensions. The matrices represent gapped Bloch Hamiltonians in 1D with a two-dimensional Hilbert space per unit cell.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.07529,
  title  = {Homotopy of periodic two by two matrices},
  author = {Joseph E. Avron and Ari M. Turner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.07529},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

23 pages 12 figures