Anomalous gapped boundaries between surface topological orders in higher-order topological insulators and superconductors with inversion symmetry

Ming-Hao Li, Titus Neupert, S. A. Parameswaran, and Apoorv Tiwari
Phys. Rev. B 106, 125121 – Published 14 September 2022

Abstract

We show that the gapless boundary signatures—namely, chiral/helical hinge modes or localized zero modes—of three-dimensional higher-order topological insulators and superconductors with inversion symmetry can be gapped without symmetry breaking upon the introduction of non-Abelian surface topological order. In each case, the fractionalization pattern that appears on the surface is “anomalous” in the sense that it can be made consistent with symmetry only on the surface of a three-dimensional higher-order insulator/superconductor. Our results show that the interacting manifestation of higher-order topology is the appearance of “anomalous gapped boundaries” between distinct topological orders whose quasiparticles are related by inversion, possibly in conjunction with other protecting symmetries such as time-reversal symmetry and charge conservation.

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  • Received 2 April 2022
  • Accepted 31 August 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.125121

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Ming-Hao Li1,2, Titus Neupert2, S. A. Parameswaran1, and Apoorv Tiwari2,3,4

  • 1Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
  • 3Condensed Matter Theory Group, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
  • 4Department of Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 106 91 Sweden

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 12 — 15 September 2022

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