Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons
Interacting quasi-one-dimensional zigzag graphene nanoribbons display gapped edge excitations. Although the self-consistent Hartree–Fock fields break chiral symmetry, our work demonstrates that zigzag graphene nanoribbons maintain their status as short-range entangled symmetry-protected topological...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad327e |
| _version_ | 1827311407813623808 |
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| author | Hyun Cheol Lee S-R Eric Yang |
| author_facet | Hyun Cheol Lee S-R Eric Yang |
| author_sort | Hyun Cheol Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Interacting quasi-one-dimensional zigzag graphene nanoribbons display gapped edge excitations. Although the self-consistent Hartree–Fock fields break chiral symmetry, our work demonstrates that zigzag graphene nanoribbons maintain their status as short-range entangled symmetry-protected topological insulators. The relevant symmetry involves combined mirror and time-reversal operations. In undoped ribbons displaying edge ferromagnetism, the band gap edge states with a topological charge form on the zigzag edges. An analysis of the anomalous continuity equation elucidates that this topological charge is induced by the gap term. In low-doped zigzag ribbons, where the ground state exhibits edge spin density waves, this topological charge appears as a nearly zero-energy edge mode. Our system is outside the conventional classification for topological insulators. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:18:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-73f5de77764741f9b5180a4410151a8d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T20:18:31Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-73f5de77764741f9b5180a4410151a8d2024-03-22T10:39:02ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302024-01-0126303303910.1088/1367-2630/ad327eChiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbonsHyun Cheol Lee0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1352-8851S-R Eric Yang1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3377-1859Department of Physics, Sogang University , Seoul 04107, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Physics, Korea University , Seoul 02841, Republic of KoreaInteracting quasi-one-dimensional zigzag graphene nanoribbons display gapped edge excitations. Although the self-consistent Hartree–Fock fields break chiral symmetry, our work demonstrates that zigzag graphene nanoribbons maintain their status as short-range entangled symmetry-protected topological insulators. The relevant symmetry involves combined mirror and time-reversal operations. In undoped ribbons displaying edge ferromagnetism, the band gap edge states with a topological charge form on the zigzag edges. An analysis of the anomalous continuity equation elucidates that this topological charge is induced by the gap term. In low-doped zigzag ribbons, where the ground state exhibits edge spin density waves, this topological charge appears as a nearly zero-energy edge mode. Our system is outside the conventional classification for topological insulators.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad327etopological chargesymmetry protected topological insulatorzigzag nanoribbon |
| spellingShingle | Hyun Cheol Lee S-R Eric Yang Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons New Journal of Physics topological charge symmetry protected topological insulator zigzag nanoribbon |
| title | Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| title_full | Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| title_fullStr | Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| title_short | Chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| title_sort | chiral symmetry breaking and topological charge of zigzag graphene nanoribbons |
| topic | topological charge symmetry protected topological insulator zigzag nanoribbon |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad327e |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hyuncheollee chiralsymmetrybreakingandtopologicalchargeofzigzaggraphenenanoribbons AT srericyang chiralsymmetrybreakingandtopologicalchargeofzigzaggraphenenanoribbons |