Gauge theory of topological phases of matter

Fröhlich, Jürg; Werner, Philipp

doi:10.1209/0295-5075/101/47007

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Journal article

Gauge theory of topological phases of matter

Fröhlich, Jürg Theoretische Physik, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - School of Mathematics, The Institute for Advanced Study - Princeton, USA
Werner, Philipp Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

05.03.2013

Published in:

EPL (Europhysics Letters). - 2013, vol. 101, no. 4, p. 47007

English We study the response of quantum many-body systems to coupling some of their degrees of freedom to external gauge fields. This serves to understand the current Green functions and transport properties of interacting many-body systems. Our analysis leads to a "gauge theory of states of matter" complementary to the well-known Landau theory of order parameters. We illustrate the power of our approach by deriving and interpreting the gauge-invariant effective actions of (topological) superconductors, 2D electron gases exhibiting the quantized Hall- and spin-Hall effect, 3D topological insulators, as well as axion electrodynamics. We also use the theory to elucidate the structure of surface modes in these systems.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Physique

Language