English

Many-body generalization of the Z2 topological invariant for the quantum spin Hall effect

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2008-05-07 v2

Abstract

We propose a many-body generalization of the Z2 topological invariant for the quantum spin Hall insulator, which does not rely on single-particle band structures. The invariant is derived as a topological obstruction that distinguishes topologically distinct many-body ground states on a torus. It is also expressed as a Wilson-loop of the SU(2) Berry gauge field, which is quantized due to the time-reversal symmetry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0708.1639,
  title  = {Many-body generalization of the Z2 topological invariant for the quantum spin Hall effect},
  author = {Sung-Sik Lee and Shinsei Ryu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0708.1639},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

4 pages, 3 figures (final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett.)