Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence

We show that two-dimensional band insulators, with vanishing bulk polarization, obey bulk-and-edge to corner charge correspondence, stating that the knowledge of the bulk and the two corresponding ribbon band structures uniquely determines a fractional part of the corner charge irrespective of the c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Luka Trifunovic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2020-10-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043012
_version_ 1797211300161388544
author Luka Trifunovic
author_facet Luka Trifunovic
author_sort Luka Trifunovic
collection DOAJ
description We show that two-dimensional band insulators, with vanishing bulk polarization, obey bulk-and-edge to corner charge correspondence, stating that the knowledge of the bulk and the two corresponding ribbon band structures uniquely determines a fractional part of the corner charge irrespective of the corner termination. Moreover, physical observables related to macroscopic charge density of a terminated crystal can be obtained by representing the crystal as collection of polarized edge regions with polarizations P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}, where the integer α enumerates the edges. We introduce a particular manner of cutting a crystal, dubbed “Wannier cut,” which allows us to compute P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}. We find that P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge} consists of two pieces: the bulk piece expressed via quadrupole tensor of the bulk Wannier functions' charge density and the edge piece corresponding to the Wannier edge polarization—the polarization of the edge subsystem obtained by Wannier cut. For a crystal with n edges, out of 2n independent components of P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}, only 2n−1 are independent of the choice of Wannier cut and correspond to physical observables: corner charges and edge dipoles.
first_indexed 2024-04-24T10:24:18Z
format Article
id doaj.art-dd46817529a14b569c18f9b8a78f2ce4
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2643-1564
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-24T10:24:18Z
publishDate 2020-10-01
publisher American Physical Society
record_format Article
series Physical Review Research
spelling doaj.art-dd46817529a14b569c18f9b8a78f2ce42024-04-12T17:01:47ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642020-10-012404301210.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043012Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondenceLuka TrifunovicWe show that two-dimensional band insulators, with vanishing bulk polarization, obey bulk-and-edge to corner charge correspondence, stating that the knowledge of the bulk and the two corresponding ribbon band structures uniquely determines a fractional part of the corner charge irrespective of the corner termination. Moreover, physical observables related to macroscopic charge density of a terminated crystal can be obtained by representing the crystal as collection of polarized edge regions with polarizations P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}, where the integer α enumerates the edges. We introduce a particular manner of cutting a crystal, dubbed “Wannier cut,” which allows us to compute P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}. We find that P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge} consists of two pieces: the bulk piece expressed via quadrupole tensor of the bulk Wannier functions' charge density and the edge piece corresponding to the Wannier edge polarization—the polarization of the edge subsystem obtained by Wannier cut. For a crystal with n edges, out of 2n independent components of P[over ⃗]_{α}^{edge}, only 2n−1 are independent of the choice of Wannier cut and correspond to physical observables: corner charges and edge dipoles.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043012
spellingShingle Luka Trifunovic
Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
Physical Review Research
title Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
title_full Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
title_fullStr Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
title_full_unstemmed Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
title_short Bulk-and-edge to corner correspondence
title_sort bulk and edge to corner correspondence
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043012
work_keys_str_mv AT lukatrifunovic bulkandedgetocornercorrespondence