Taking the clue from the modern theory of polarization [Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 899 (1994)], we identify an operator to distinguish between Z2-even (trivial) and Z2-odd (topological) insulators in two spatial dimen- sions. Its definition extends the position operator [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 370 (1999)], which was introduced in one-dimensional systems. We first show a few examples of noninteracting models where single-particle wave functions are defined and allow for a direct comparison with standard techniques on large system sizes. Then, we illustrate its applicability for an interacting model on a small cluster where exact diagonalizations are available. Its formulation in the Fock space allows a direct computation of expectation values over the ground-state wave function (or any approximation of it), thus, allowing us to investigate generic interacting systems, such as strongly correlated topological insulators.

Real-space many-body marker for correlated Z2 topological insulators

Federico Becca;Antimo Marrazzo;
2022-01-01

Abstract

Taking the clue from the modern theory of polarization [Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 899 (1994)], we identify an operator to distinguish between Z2-even (trivial) and Z2-odd (topological) insulators in two spatial dimen- sions. Its definition extends the position operator [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 370 (1999)], which was introduced in one-dimensional systems. We first show a few examples of noninteracting models where single-particle wave functions are defined and allow for a direct comparison with standard techniques on large system sizes. Then, we illustrate its applicability for an interacting model on a small cluster where exact diagonalizations are available. Its formulation in the Fock space allows a direct computation of expectation values over the ground-state wave function (or any approximation of it), thus, allowing us to investigate generic interacting systems, such as strongly correlated topological insulators.
2022
Pubblicato
https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L161106
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11368/3037539
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