Two-dimensional density-matrix topological fermionic phases: topological Uhlmann numbers

We construct a topological invariant that classifies density matrices of symmetry-protected topological orders in two-dimensional fermionic systems. As it is constructed out of the previously introduced Uhlmann phase, we refer to it as the topological Uhlmann number n_(U). With it, we study thermal...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Viyuela García, Óscar, Rivas Vargas, Ángel, Martín-Delgado Alcántara, Miguel Ángel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/35592
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/35592
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:53
Superconductors
States
Insulators
computation
Degeneracy
Statistics
Vortices
Parity
Space
Model.
Física-Modelos matemáticos
Descripción
Sumario:We construct a topological invariant that classifies density matrices of symmetry-protected topological orders in two-dimensional fermionic systems. As it is constructed out of the previously introduced Uhlmann phase, we refer to it as the topological Uhlmann number n_(U). With it, we study thermal topological phases in several two-dimensional models of topological insulators and superconductors, computing phase diagrams where the temperature T is on an equal footing with the coupling constants in the Hamiltonian. Moreover, we find novel thermal-topological transitions between two nontrivial phases in a model with high Chern numbers. At small temperatures we recover the standard topological phases as the Uhlmann number approaches to the Chern number.