English

Quantum higher-spin Hall insulators

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-04-21 v1

Abstract

We develop a theory of quantum spin Hall insulators with arbitrary spin JJ. Our analysis demonstrates that such systems support J+12J+\tfrac{1}{2} pairs of helical edge modes protected by nontrivial mirror Chern numbers. We establish that the corresponding edge theory is described by a generalized Dirac fermion with higher-order dispersion. These modes produce unique transport responses that are non-linear with voltage. An in-plane magnetic field opens a mass gap in the edge spectrum, and magnetic domain walls host (J+12)(J+\tfrac{1}{2})-fold degenerate bound states characterized by nontrivial winding numbers. Our results extend quantum spin Hall physics to higher-spin systems and suggest possible realizations in ultracold atomic gases.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.17479,
  title  = {Quantum higher-spin Hall insulators},
  author = {Takuto Kawakami and Igor Kuzmenko and Yshai Avishai and Yigal Meir and Masatoshi Sato},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17479},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:16:59.105Z