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Perfect elliptic dichroism: Probing the metric of anisotropic quantum Hall droplets
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Alberto Nardin,
Anaïs Defossez,
Baptiste Bermond,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Nathan Goldman
Abstract:
Understanding the geometry of quantum Hall systems is a central challenge in modern condensed matter physics. We introduce a framework for probing the geometric structure of quantum Hall droplets by engineering the geometry of a dichroic probe and identifying the onset of "perfect elliptic dichroism", a regime in which the system responds exclusively to an elliptically polarized drive of a given c…
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Understanding the geometry of quantum Hall systems is a central challenge in modern condensed matter physics. We introduce a framework for probing the geometric structure of quantum Hall droplets by engineering the geometry of a dichroic probe and identifying the onset of "perfect elliptic dichroism", a regime in which the system responds exclusively to an elliptically polarized drive of a given chirality. This phenomenon provides a direct diagnostic of the droplet's intrinsic metric, and we show that it extends naturally to ideal Chern bands, where holomorphicity of the occupied states guarantees the vanishing of one chiral absorption rate with a quantized response for the other. In lattice realizations, such as the Harper-Hofstadter model, finite lattice-spacing corrections break the exact continuum metric description and give rise to a renormalized, emergent Landau-orbit metric; the probe ellipticity at which perfect dichroism is achieved then shifts accordingly, offering a direct spectroscopic window onto this lattice-induced geometric renormalization. Our results illuminate the rich geometric structure of quantum Hall phases and offer concrete pathways for observing these effects in quantum-engineered platforms.
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Submitted 11 July, 2026; v1 submitted 29 June, 2026;
originally announced June 2026.
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Hall viscosity from metric-sensitive dichroic probes
Authors:
Alberto Nardin,
Bruno Mera,
Anaïs Defossez,
Baptiste Bermond,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Nathan Goldman
Abstract:
Hall viscosity characterizes the geometric response of a quantum Hall droplet to deformations of the underlying metric, yet it has remained difficult to measure directly. We propose a spectroscopic probe based on circular dichroism, using chiral metric-sensitive drives -- implemented as rotating quadrupolar ("saddle") perturbations -- that effectively modulate the metric and couple to the generato…
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Hall viscosity characterizes the geometric response of a quantum Hall droplet to deformations of the underlying metric, yet it has remained difficult to measure directly. We propose a spectroscopic probe based on circular dichroism, using chiral metric-sensitive drives -- implemented as rotating quadrupolar ("saddle") perturbations -- that effectively modulate the metric and couple to the generators of area-preserving deformations. The resulting dichroic signal directly measures the Hall viscosity, while frequency-resolved spectroscopy disentangles it from other excitations. A local formulation further enables spatially resolved markers of Hall viscosity applicable to both continuum and lattice systems. Our results open a direct route to measuring Hall viscosity in quantum-engineered platforms such as cold atoms in optical lattices.
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Submitted 11 July, 2026; v1 submitted 29 June, 2026;
originally announced June 2026.
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Quantum Hall States response to toroidal geometry deformation
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
José M. Mourão,
João P. Nunes,
Carolina Paiva
Abstract:
In this paper, we apply techniques of geometric quantization to study the response of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects to toroidal geometry deformation. The main method is that of using complex time Hamiltonian evolution to induce the geometry change and then the associated generalized coherent state transforms (gCST) to find the evolution of the Laughlin states. We consider two kin…
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In this paper, we apply techniques of geometric quantization to study the response of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects to toroidal geometry deformation. The main method is that of using complex time Hamiltonian evolution to induce the geometry change and then the associated generalized coherent state transforms (gCST) to find the evolution of the Laughlin states. We consider two kinds of deformations. The first are flat toroidal deformations. Although Laughlin states for all flat toroidal geometries have been thoroughly studied before, we believe that our approach via the gCST is novel. It also serves as a testing ground to study the non-flat Kähler deformations. The Hamiltonians used in the flat deformations are quadratic in the generators of translations and therefore non periodic. The second kind of deformations involve nonflat Kähler toroidal deformations, generated by global, thus bi-periodic, Hamiltonians on the torus. The corresponding imaginary time flows are (elliptic curve modulus) $τ$-preserving Mabuchi geodesics in the space of Kähler metrics on the torus, hitting a curvature singularity in finite imaginary time. By restricting to $S^1$-invariant deformations we find explicit analytic expressions for the evolution of the toroidal geometry and of the Laughlin states all the way to the singularity.
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Submitted 28 March, 2026;
originally announced March 2026.
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Harmonic band theory: rigidity of non-zero degree harmonic maps from 2-torus to complex projective space
Authors:
Yoshinori Hashimoto,
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
We prove the rigidity of isotropic harmonic maps from a 2-torus to a complex projective space, when they are constructed from holomorphic embeddings associated to complete linear systems. We also prove that this rigidity holds for any holomorphic embeddings without special hyperosculation points, with an extra assumption on the pullbacks of Fubini--Study symplectic forms. These results ensure the…
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We prove the rigidity of isotropic harmonic maps from a 2-torus to a complex projective space, when they are constructed from holomorphic embeddings associated to complete linear systems. We also prove that this rigidity holds for any holomorphic embeddings without special hyperosculation points, with an extra assumption on the pullbacks of Fubini--Study symplectic forms. These results ensure the rigidity of towers of harmonic bands in condensed matter physics.
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Submitted 27 April, 2026; v1 submitted 18 December, 2025;
originally announced December 2025.
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Relaxation toward an Ideal Chern Band through Coupling to a Markovian Bath
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
We propose a microscopic, weak-coupling mechanism by which generic Chern bands asymptotically relax toward ideal bands. We consider coupling interacting electrons to a Caldeira-Leggett-like Ohmic bosonic bath. Using the Born-Markov approximation, we analytically show that, upon taking the leading order contribution in momentum of the form factor, Slater determinant states of a Chern band under Har…
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We propose a microscopic, weak-coupling mechanism by which generic Chern bands asymptotically relax toward ideal bands. We consider coupling interacting electrons to a Caldeira-Leggett-like Ohmic bosonic bath. Using the Born-Markov approximation, we analytically show that, upon taking the leading order contribution in momentum of the form factor, Slater determinant states of a Chern band under Hartree-Fock approximation evolve toward Slater determinant states corresponding to an ideal Chern band. We also numerically validate our proposal by performing simulation of a massive Dirac model with the extended Hubbard interaction, showing that the Berry curvature and quantum metric co-evolve toward saturation of the trace condition. Our proposal provides a concrete dissipative mechanism for driving Chern bands toward ideal quantum geometry, a fundamental building block for the stabilization of fractional Chern insulators.
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Submitted 20 July, 2026; v1 submitted 14 November, 2025;
originally announced November 2025.
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Density Matrix Geometry and Sum Rules
Authors:
Guangyue Ji,
David E. Palomino,
Nathan Goldman,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Peter Riseborough,
Jie Wang,
Bruno Mera
Abstract:
Geometry plays a fundamental role in a wide range of physical responses, from anomalous transport coefficients to their related sum rules. Notable examples include the quantization of the Hall conductivity and the Souza-Wilkens-Martin (SWM) sum rule -- both valid at zero temperature, independent of interactions and disorder. The finite-temperature generalization of the SWM sum rule has been explor…
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Geometry plays a fundamental role in a wide range of physical responses, from anomalous transport coefficients to their related sum rules. Notable examples include the quantization of the Hall conductivity and the Souza-Wilkens-Martin (SWM) sum rule -- both valid at zero temperature, independent of interactions and disorder. The finite-temperature generalization of the SWM sum rule has been explored in the literature, revealing deep connections to the geometry of density matrices. Building on recent advances in time-dependent geometric frameworks, we propose a time-dependent quantum geometric tensor for thermal density matrices. This formalism provides a unified interpretation of known sum rules within the framework of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, further elucidating their fundamental geometric origin. In addition, it provides experimentally accessible methods to probe quantum geometry beyond the zero-temperature regime.
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Submitted 18 July, 2025;
originally announced July 2025.
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Geometrical Responses of Generalized Landau Levels: Structure Factor and the Quantized Hall Viscosity
Authors:
Carolina Paiva,
Jie Wang,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Bruno Mera
Abstract:
We present a new geometric characterization of generalized Landau levels (GLLs). The GLLs are a generalization of Landau levels to non-uniform Berry curvature, and are mathematically defined in terms of a holomorphic curve -- an ideal Kähler band -- and its associated unitary Frenet-Serret moving frame. Here, we find that GLLs are harmonic maps from the Brillouin zone to the complex projective spa…
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We present a new geometric characterization of generalized Landau levels (GLLs). The GLLs are a generalization of Landau levels to non-uniform Berry curvature, and are mathematically defined in terms of a holomorphic curve -- an ideal Kähler band -- and its associated unitary Frenet-Serret moving frame. Here, we find that GLLs are harmonic maps from the Brillouin zone to the complex projective space and they are critical points of the Dirichlet energy functional, as well as the static structure factor up to fourth order. We also find that filled GLLs exhibit quantized Hall viscosity, similar to the ordinary Landau levels. These results establish GLLs as a versatile generalization of Landau levels.
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Submitted 20 January, 2025;
originally announced January 2025.
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Exact Parent Hamiltonians for All Landau Level States in a Half-flux Lattice
Authors:
Xin Shen,
Guangyue Ji,
Jinjie Zhang,
David E. Palomino,
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Jie Wang
Abstract:
Realizing topological flat bands with tailored single-particle Hilbert spaces is a critical step toward exploring many-body phases, such as those featuring anyonic excitations. One prominent example is the Kapit-Mueller model, a variant of the Harper-Hofstadter model that stabilizes lattice analogs of the lowest Landau level states. The Kapit-Mueller model is constructed based on the Poisson summa…
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Realizing topological flat bands with tailored single-particle Hilbert spaces is a critical step toward exploring many-body phases, such as those featuring anyonic excitations. One prominent example is the Kapit-Mueller model, a variant of the Harper-Hofstadter model that stabilizes lattice analogs of the lowest Landau level states. The Kapit-Mueller model is constructed based on the Poisson summation rule, an exact lattice sum rule for coherent states. In this work, we consider higher Landau-level generalizations of the Poisson summation rule, from which we derive families of parent Hamiltonians on a half-flux lattice which have exact flat bands whose flatband wavefunctions are lattice version of higher Landau level states. Focusing on generic Bravais lattices with only translation and inversion symmetries, we discuss how these symmetries enforced gaplessness and singular points for odd Landau level series, and how to achieve fully gapped parent Hamiltonians by mixing even and odd series. Our model points to a large class of tight-binding models with suitable energetic and quantum geometries that are potentially useful for realizing non-Abelian fractionalized states when interactions are included. The model exhibits fast decay hopping amplitudes, making it potentially realizable with neutral atoms in optical lattices.
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Submitted 16 January, 2025;
originally announced January 2025.
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Theory of Generalized Landau Levels and Implication for non-Abelian States
Authors:
Zhao Liu,
Bruno Mera,
Manato Fujimoto,
Tomoki Ozawa,
Jie Wang
Abstract:
Quantum geometry is a fundamental concept to characterize the local properties of quantum states. It is recently demonstrated that saturating certain quantum geometric bounds allows a topological Chern band to share many essential features with the lowest Landau level, facilitating fractionalized phases in moiré flat bands. In this work, we systematically extend the consequence and universality of…
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Quantum geometry is a fundamental concept to characterize the local properties of quantum states. It is recently demonstrated that saturating certain quantum geometric bounds allows a topological Chern band to share many essential features with the lowest Landau level, facilitating fractionalized phases in moiré flat bands. In this work, we systematically extend the consequence and universality of saturated geometric bounds to arbitrary Landau levels by introducing a set of single-particle states, which we term as ``generalized Landau levels''. These generalized Landau levels exhibit exactly quantized values of integrated trace of quantum metric determined by their corresponding Landau level indices, regardless of the nonuniformity of their quantum geometric quantities. We derive all geometric quantities for individual and multiple generalized Landau levels, discuss their relations, and understand them in light of the theory of holomorphic curves and moving frames. We further propose a model by superposing few generalized Landau levels which is supposed to capture a large portion of the single-particle Hilbert space of a generic Chern band analogous to the first Landau level. Using this model, we employ exact diagonalization to identify a single-particle geometric criterion for permitting the non-Abelian Moore-Read phase, which is potentially useful for future engineering of moiré materials and beyond. We use a double twisted bilayer graphene model with only adjacent layer hopping term to show the existence of first generalized Landau level type narrow band and zero-field Moore-Read state at the second magic angle which serves as a promising starting point for more detailed future studies. We expect that generalized Landau levels will serve as a systematic tool for analyzing topological Chern bands and fractionalized phases therein.
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Submitted 23 May, 2024;
originally announced May 2024.
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Uniqueness of Landau levels and their analogs with higher Chern numbers
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
Landau levels are the eigenstates of a charged particle in two dimensions under a magnetic field, and are at the heart of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, which are two prototypical phenomena showing topological features. Following recent discoveries of fractional quantum Hall phases in van der Waals materials, there is a rapid progress in understanding of the precise condition und…
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Landau levels are the eigenstates of a charged particle in two dimensions under a magnetic field, and are at the heart of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, which are two prototypical phenomena showing topological features. Following recent discoveries of fractional quantum Hall phases in van der Waals materials, there is a rapid progress in understanding of the precise condition under which the fractional quantum Hall phases can be stabilized. It is now understood that the key to obtaining the fractional quantum Hall phases is the energy band whose eigenstates are holomorphic functions in both real and momentum space coordinates. Landau levels are indeed examples of such energy bands with an additional special property of having flat geometrical features. In this paper, we prove that, in fact, the only energy eigenstates having holomorphic wave functions with a flat geometry are the Landau levels and their higher Chern number analogs. Since it has been known that any holomorphic eigenstates can be constructed from the ones with a flat geometry such as the Landau levels, our uniqueness proof of the Landau levels allows one to construct any possible holomorphic eigenstate with which the fractional quantum Hall phases can be stabilized.
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Submitted 3 September, 2024; v1 submitted 3 April, 2023;
originally announced April 2023.
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Singular connection approach to topological phases and resonant optical responses
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
We introduce a class of singular connections as an alternative to the Berry connection for any family of quantum states defined over a parameter space. We find a natural application of the singular connection in the context of transition dipoles between two bands. We find that the shift vector is nothing but the difference between the singular connection and the connection induced from the Berry c…
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We introduce a class of singular connections as an alternative to the Berry connection for any family of quantum states defined over a parameter space. We find a natural application of the singular connection in the context of transition dipoles between two bands. We find that the shift vector is nothing but the difference between the singular connection and the connection induced from the Berry connections of involved bands; the gauge invariance of the shift vector is transparent from this expression. We show, using singular connections, that the topological invariant in two dimensions associated with optical transitions between the two bands can be computed, by means of this connection, by algebraically counting the points in the zero locus of a transition dipole matrix element of the two bands involved. It follows that this invariant provides a natural topological lower bound on the number of momenta in the Brillouin zone for which an electron cannot be excited from one Bloch band to the other by absorbing a photon.
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Submitted 20 December, 2022; v1 submitted 13 October, 2022;
originally announced October 2022.
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Experimental demonstration of topological bounds in quantum metrology
Authors:
Min Yu,
Xiangbei Li,
Yaoming Chu,
Bruno Mera,
F. Nur Ünal,
Pengcheng Yang,
Yu Liu,
Nathan Goldman,
Jianming Cai
Abstract:
Quantum metrology is deeply connected to quantum geometry, through the fundamental notion of quantum Fisher information. Inspired by advances in topological matter, it was recently suggested that the Berry curvature and Chern numbers of band structures can dictate strict lower bounds on metrological properties, hence establishing a strong connection between topology and quantum metrology. In this…
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Quantum metrology is deeply connected to quantum geometry, through the fundamental notion of quantum Fisher information. Inspired by advances in topological matter, it was recently suggested that the Berry curvature and Chern numbers of band structures can dictate strict lower bounds on metrological properties, hence establishing a strong connection between topology and quantum metrology. In this work, we provide a first experimental verification of such topological bounds, by performing optimal quantum multi-parameter estimation and achieving the best possible measurement precision. By emulating the band structure of a Chern insulator, we experimentally determine the metrological potential across a topological phase transition, and demonstrate strong enhancement in the topologically non-trivial regime. Our work opens the door to metrological applications empowered by topology, with potential implications for quantum many-body systems.
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Submitted 19 November, 2022; v1 submitted 1 June, 2022;
originally announced June 2022.
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Nontrivial quantum geometry of degenerate flat bands
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Johannes Mitscherling
Abstract:
The importance of the quantum metric in flat-band systems has been noticed recently in many contexts such as the superfluid stiffness, the dc electrical conductivity, and ideal Chern insulators. Both the quantum metric of degenerate and nondegenerate bands can be naturally described via the geometry of different Grassmannian manifolds, specific to the band degeneracies. Contrary to the (Abelian) B…
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The importance of the quantum metric in flat-band systems has been noticed recently in many contexts such as the superfluid stiffness, the dc electrical conductivity, and ideal Chern insulators. Both the quantum metric of degenerate and nondegenerate bands can be naturally described via the geometry of different Grassmannian manifolds, specific to the band degeneracies. Contrary to the (Abelian) Berry curvature, the quantum metric of a degenerate band resulting from the collapse of a collection of bands is not simply the sum of the individual quantum metrics. We provide a physical interpretation of this phenomenon in terms of transition dipole matrix elements between two bands. By considering a toy model, we show that the quantum metric gets enhanced, reduced, or remains unaffected depending on which bands collapse. The dc longitudinal conductivity and the superfluid stiffness are known to be proportional to the quantum metric for flat-band systems, which makes them suitable candidates for the observation of this phenomenon.
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Submitted 8 November, 2022; v1 submitted 16 May, 2022;
originally announced May 2022.
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Information geometry of quantum critical submanifolds: relevant, marginal and irrelevant operators
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Nikola Paunković,
Syed Tahir Amin,
Vítor R. Vieira
Abstract:
We analyze the thermodynamical limit of the quantum metric along critical submanifolds of theory space. Building upon various results previously known in the literature, we relate its singular behavior to normal directions, which are naturally associated with relevant operators in the renormalization group sense. We formulate these results in the language of information theory and differential geo…
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We analyze the thermodynamical limit of the quantum metric along critical submanifolds of theory space. Building upon various results previously known in the literature, we relate its singular behavior to normal directions, which are naturally associated with relevant operators in the renormalization group sense. We formulate these results in the language of information theory and differential geometry. We exemplify our theory through the paradigmatic examples of the XY and Haldane models, where the normal directions to the critical submanifolds are seen to be precisely those along which the metric has singular behavior, while for the tangent ones it vanishes -- these directions lie in the kernel of the metric.
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Submitted 3 October, 2022; v1 submitted 4 January, 2022;
originally announced January 2022.
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Laughlin states change under large geometry deformations and imaginary time Hamiltonian dynamics
Authors:
Gabriel Matos,
Bruno Mera,
José M. Mourão,
Paulo D. Mourão,
João P. Nunes
Abstract:
We study the change of the Laughlin states under large deformations of the geometry of the sphere and the plane, associated with Mabuchi geodesics on the space of metrics with Hamiltonian $S^1$-symmetry.
For geodesics associated with the square of the symmetry generator, as the geodesic time goes to infinity, the geometry of the sphere becomes that of a thin cigar collapsing to a line and the La…
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We study the change of the Laughlin states under large deformations of the geometry of the sphere and the plane, associated with Mabuchi geodesics on the space of metrics with Hamiltonian $S^1$-symmetry.
For geodesics associated with the square of the symmetry generator, as the geodesic time goes to infinity, the geometry of the sphere becomes that of a thin cigar collapsing to a line and the Laughlin states become concentrated on a discrete set of $S^1$--orbits, corresponding to Bohr-Sommerfeld orbits of geometric quantization.
The lifting of the Mabuchi geodesics to the bundle of quantum states, to which the Laughlin states belong, is achieved via generalized coherent state transforms, which correspond to the KZ parallel transport of Chern-Simons theory.
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Submitted 5 August, 2021; v1 submitted 23 July, 2021;
originally announced July 2021.
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Engineering geometrically flat Chern bands with Fubini-Study Kähler structure
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
We describe a systematic method to construct models of Chern insulators whose Berry curvature and the quantum volume form coincide and are flat over the Brillouin zone; such models are known to be suitable for hosting fractional Chern insulators. The bands of Chern insulator models where the Berry curvature and the quantum volume form coincide, and are nowhere vanishing, are known to induce the st…
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We describe a systematic method to construct models of Chern insulators whose Berry curvature and the quantum volume form coincide and are flat over the Brillouin zone; such models are known to be suitable for hosting fractional Chern insulators. The bands of Chern insulator models where the Berry curvature and the quantum volume form coincide, and are nowhere vanishing, are known to induce the structure of a Kähler manifold in momentum space, and thus we are naturally led to define Kähler bands to be Chern bands satisfying such properties. We show how to construct a geometrically flat Kähler band, with Chern number equal to minus the total number of bands in the system, using the idea of Kähler quantization and properties of Bergman kernel asymptotics. We show that, with our construction, the geometrical properties become flatter as the total number of bands in the system is increased; we also show the no-go theorem that it is not possible to construct geometrically perfectly flat Kähler bands with a finite number of bands. We give an explicit realization of this construction in terms of theta functions and numerically confirm how the constructed Kähler bands become geometrically flat as we increase the number of bands. We also show the effect of truncating hoppings at a finite length, which will generally result in deviation from a perfect Kähler band but does not seem to seriously affect the flatness of the geometrical properties.
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Submitted 27 September, 2021; v1 submitted 19 July, 2021;
originally announced July 2021.
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Relating the topology of Dirac Hamiltonians to quantum geometry: When the quantum metric dictates Chern numbers and winding numbers
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Anwei Zhang,
Nathan Goldman
Abstract:
Quantum geometry has emerged as a central and ubiquitous concept in quantum sciences, with direct consequences on quantum metrology and many-body quantum physics. In this context, two fundamental geometric quantities are known to play complementary roles: the Fubini-Study metric, which introduces a notion of distance between quantum states defined over a parameter space, and the Berry curvature as…
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Quantum geometry has emerged as a central and ubiquitous concept in quantum sciences, with direct consequences on quantum metrology and many-body quantum physics. In this context, two fundamental geometric quantities are known to play complementary roles: the Fubini-Study metric, which introduces a notion of distance between quantum states defined over a parameter space, and the Berry curvature associated with Berry-phase effects and topological band structures. In fact, recent studies have revealed direct relations between these two important quantities, suggesting that topological properties can, in special cases, be deduced from the quantum metric. In this work, we establish general and exact relations between the quantum metric and the topological invariants of generic Dirac Hamiltonians. In particular, we demonstrate that topological indices (Chern numbers or winding numbers) are bounded by the quantum volume determined by the quantum metric. Our theoretical framework, which builds on the Clifford algebra of Dirac matrices, is applicable to topological insulators and semimetals of arbitrary spatial dimensions, with or without chiral symmetry. This work clarifies the role of the Fubini-Study metric in topological states of matter, suggesting unexplored topological responses and metrological applications in a broad class of quantum-engineered systems.
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Submitted 1 October, 2021; v1 submitted 1 June, 2021;
originally announced June 2021.
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Kähler geometry and Chern insulators: Relations between topology and the quantum metric
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Tomoki Ozawa
Abstract:
We study Chern insulators from the point of view of Kähler geometry, i.e. the geometry of smooth manifolds equipped with a compatible triple consisting of a symplectic form, an integrable almost complex structure and a Riemannian metric. The Fermi projector, i.e. the projector onto the occupied bands, provides a map to a Kähler manifold. The quantum metric and Berry curvature of the occupied bands…
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We study Chern insulators from the point of view of Kähler geometry, i.e. the geometry of smooth manifolds equipped with a compatible triple consisting of a symplectic form, an integrable almost complex structure and a Riemannian metric. The Fermi projector, i.e. the projector onto the occupied bands, provides a map to a Kähler manifold. The quantum metric and Berry curvature of the occupied bands are then related to the Riemannian metric and symplectic form, respectively, on the target space of quantum states. We find that the minimal volume of a parameter space with respect to the quantum metric is $π|\mathcal{C}|$, where $\mathcal{C}$ is the first Chern number. We determine the conditions under which the minimal volume is achieved both for the Brillouin zone and the twist-angle space. The minimal volume of the Brillouin zone, provided the quantum metric is everywhere non-degenerate, is achieved when the latter is endowed with the structure of a Kähler manifold inherited from the one of the space of quantum states. If the quantum volume of the twist-angle torus is minimal, then both parameter spaces have the structure of a Kähler manifold inherited from the space of quantum states. These conditions turn out to be related to the stability of fractional Chern insulators. For two-band systems, the volume of the Brillouin zone is naturally minimal provided the Berry curvature is everywhere non-negative or nonpositive, and we additionally show how the latter, which in this case is proportional to the quantum volume form, necessarily has zeros due to topological constraints.
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Submitted 4 July, 2021; v1 submitted 22 March, 2021;
originally announced March 2021.
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Relations between topology and the quantum metric for Chern insulators
Authors:
Tomoki Ozawa,
Bruno Mera
Abstract:
We investigate relations between topology and the quantum metric of two-dimensional Chern insulators. The quantum metric is the Riemannian metric defined on a parameter space induced from quantum states. Similar to the Berry curvature, the quantum metric provides a geometrical structure associated to quantum states. We consider the volume of the parameter space measured with the quantum metric, wh…
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We investigate relations between topology and the quantum metric of two-dimensional Chern insulators. The quantum metric is the Riemannian metric defined on a parameter space induced from quantum states. Similar to the Berry curvature, the quantum metric provides a geometrical structure associated to quantum states. We consider the volume of the parameter space measured with the quantum metric, which we call the quantum volume of the parameter space. We establish an inequality between the quantum volume of the Brillouin zone and that of the twist-angle space. Exploiting this inequality and the inequality between the Chern number and the quantum volume, we investigate how the quantum volume can be used as a good measure to infer the Chern number. The inequalities are found to be saturated for fermions filling Landau levels. Through various concrete models, we elucidate conditions when the quantum volume gives a good estimate of the topology of the system.
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Submitted 4 July, 2021; v1 submitted 22 March, 2021;
originally announced March 2021.
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Interferometric geometry from symmetry-broken Uhlmann gauge group with applications to topological phase transitions
Authors:
Hector Silva,
Bruno Mera,
Nikola Paunković
Abstract:
We provide a natural generalization of a Riemannian structure, i.e., a metric, recently introduced by Sjöqvist for the space of non degenerate density matrices, to the degenerate case, i.e., the case in which the eigenspaces have dimension greater than or equal to 1. We present a physical interpretation of the metric in terms of an interferometric measurement. We apply this metric, physically inte…
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We provide a natural generalization of a Riemannian structure, i.e., a metric, recently introduced by Sjöqvist for the space of non degenerate density matrices, to the degenerate case, i.e., the case in which the eigenspaces have dimension greater than or equal to 1. We present a physical interpretation of the metric in terms of an interferometric measurement. We apply this metric, physically interpreted as an interferometric susceptibility, to the study of topological phase transitions at finite temperatures for band insulators. We compare the behaviors of this susceptibility and the one coming from the well-known Bures metric, showing them to be dramatically different. While both infer zero temperature phase transitions, only the former predicts finite temperature phase transitions as well. The difference in behaviors can be traced back to a symmetry breaking mechanism, akin to Landau-Ginzburg theory, by which the Uhlmann gauge group is broken down to a subgroup determined by the type of the system's density matrix (i.e., the ranks of its spectral projectors).
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Submitted 19 February, 2021; v1 submitted 13 October, 2020;
originally announced October 2020.
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The product of two independent Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains yields a two-dimensional Chern insulator
Authors:
Bruno Mera
Abstract:
We provide an extensive look at Bott periodicity in the context of complex gapped topological phases of free fermions. In doing so, we remark on the existence of a product structure in the set of inequivalent phases induced by the external tensor product of vector bundles -- a structure which has not yet been explored in condensed-matter literature. Bott periodicity appears in the form of a genera…
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We provide an extensive look at Bott periodicity in the context of complex gapped topological phases of free fermions. In doing so, we remark on the existence of a product structure in the set of inequivalent phases induced by the external tensor product of vector bundles -- a structure which has not yet been explored in condensed-matter literature. Bott periodicity appears in the form of a generalized Dirac monopole built out of a given phase, which is equivalent to the product of a Dirac monopole phase with that same given phase. The complex K-theory cohomology ring is presented as a natural way to store the information of these phases, with a grading corresponding to the number of Clifford symmetries modulo $2$. The Künneth formula allows us to derive the result that, for band insulators, the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chain in one dimension allows one to generate the K-cohomology of the $d$-dimensional Brillouin zone. In particular, we find that the product of two SSH chains in independent momentum directions yields a two-dimensional Chern insulator. The results obtained relate the associated topological phases of charge-conserving band insulators and their topological invariants in all spatial dimensions in a unified way.
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Submitted 29 October, 2020; v1 submitted 4 September, 2020;
originally announced September 2020.
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Localization anisotropy and complex geometry in two-dimensional insulators
Authors:
Bruno Mera
Abstract:
The localization tensor is a measure of distinguishability between insulators and metals. This tensor is related to the quantum metric tensor associated with the occupied bands in momentum space. In two dimensions and in the thermodynamic limit, it defines a flat Riemannian metric over the twist-angle space, topologically a torus, which endows this space with a complex structure, described by a co…
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The localization tensor is a measure of distinguishability between insulators and metals. This tensor is related to the quantum metric tensor associated with the occupied bands in momentum space. In two dimensions and in the thermodynamic limit, it defines a flat Riemannian metric over the twist-angle space, topologically a torus, which endows this space with a complex structure, described by a complex parameter $τ$. It is shown that the latter is a physical observable related to the anisotropy of the system. The quantity $τ$ and the Riemannian volume of the twist-angle space provide an invariant way to parametrize the flat quantum metric obtained in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, if by changing the couplings of the theory, the system undergoes quantum phase transitions in which the gap closes, the complex structure $τ$ is still well defined, although the metric diverges (metallic state), and it is fixed by the form of the Hamiltonian near the gap closing points. The Riemannian volume is responsible for the divergence of the metric at the phase transition.
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Submitted 17 March, 2020; v1 submitted 4 February, 2020;
originally announced February 2020.
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Information geometric analysis of long range topological superconductors
Authors:
Syed Tahir Amin,
Bruno Mera,
Nikola Paunković,
Vítor R. Vieira
Abstract:
The Uhlmann connection is a mixed state generalisation of the Berry connection. The latter has a very important role in the study of topological phases at zero temperature. Closely related, the quantum fidelity is an information theoretical quantity which is a measure of distinguishability of quantum states. Moreover, it has been extensively used in the analysis of quantum phase transitions. In th…
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The Uhlmann connection is a mixed state generalisation of the Berry connection. The latter has a very important role in the study of topological phases at zero temperature. Closely related, the quantum fidelity is an information theoretical quantity which is a measure of distinguishability of quantum states. Moreover, it has been extensively used in the analysis of quantum phase transitions. In this work, we study topological phase transitions in 1D and 2D topological superconductors with long-range hopping and pairing amplitudes, using the fidelity and the quantity $Δ$ closely related to the Uhlmann connection. The drop in the fidelity and the departure of $Δ$ from zero signal the topological phase transitions in the models considered. The analysis of the ground state fidelity susceptibility and its associated critical exponents are also applied to the study of the aforementioned topological phase transitions.
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Submitted 28 August, 2019; v1 submitted 8 April, 2019;
originally announced April 2019.
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Topologically protected quantization of work
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Krzysztof Sacha,
Yasser Omar
Abstract:
The transport of a particle in the presence of a potential that changes periodically in space and in time can be characterized by the amount of work needed to shift a particle by a single spatial period of the potential. In general, this amount of work, when averaged over a single temporal period of the potential, can take any value in a continuous fashion. Here we present a topological effect ind…
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The transport of a particle in the presence of a potential that changes periodically in space and in time can be characterized by the amount of work needed to shift a particle by a single spatial period of the potential. In general, this amount of work, when averaged over a single temporal period of the potential, can take any value in a continuous fashion. Here we present a topological effect inducing the quantization of the average work. We find that this work is equal to the first Chern number calculated in a unit cell of a space-time lattice. Hence, this quantization of the average work is topologically protected. We illustrate this phenomenon with the example of an atom whose center of mass motion is coupled to its internal degrees of freedom by electromagnetic waves.
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Submitted 10 July, 2019; v1 submitted 14 February, 2019;
originally announced February 2019.
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Vanishing k-space fidelity and phase diagram's bulk-edge-bulk correspondence
Authors:
P. D. Sacramento,
B. Mera,
N. Paunkovic
Abstract:
The fidelity between two infinitesimally close states or the fidelity susceptibility of a system are known to detect quantum phase transitions. Here we show that the k-space fidelity between two states far from each other and taken deep inside (bulk) of two phase s, generically vanishes at the k-points where there are gapless points in the energy spectrum that give origin to the lines (edges) sepa…
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The fidelity between two infinitesimally close states or the fidelity susceptibility of a system are known to detect quantum phase transitions. Here we show that the k-space fidelity between two states far from each other and taken deep inside (bulk) of two phase s, generically vanishes at the k-points where there are gapless points in the energy spectrum that give origin to the lines (edges) separating the phases in the phase diagram. We consider a general case of two-band models and present a sufficient condition for the existence of gapless points, given there are pairs of parameter points for which the fidelity between the corresponding states is zero. By presenting an explicit counter-example, we showed that the sufficient condition is not necessary. Further, we showed that, unless the set of parameter points is suitably constrained, the existence of gapless points generically imply the accompanied pairs of parameter points with vanishing fidelity. Also, we showed the connection between the vanishing fidelity and gapless points on a number of concrete examples (topological triplet superconductor, topological insulator, 1d Kitaev model of spinless fermions, BCS superconductor, Ising model in a transverse field, graphene and Haldane Chern insulator), as well as for the more general case of Dirac-like Hamiltonians. We also briefly discuss the relation between the vanishing fidelity and gapless points at finite temperatures.
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Submitted 19 August, 2018;
originally announced August 2018.
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Fidelity and Uhlmann connection analysis of topological phase transitions in two dimensions
Authors:
S. T. Amin,
B. Mera,
C. Vlachou,
N. Paunković,
V. R. Vieira
Abstract:
We study the behaviour of the fidelity and the Uhlmann connection in two-dimensional systems of free fermions that exhibit non-trivial topological behavior. In particular, we use the fidelity and a quantity closely related to the Uhlmann factor in order to detect phase transitions at zero and finite temperature for topological insulators and superconductors. We show that at zero temperature both q…
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We study the behaviour of the fidelity and the Uhlmann connection in two-dimensional systems of free fermions that exhibit non-trivial topological behavior. In particular, we use the fidelity and a quantity closely related to the Uhlmann factor in order to detect phase transitions at zero and finite temperature for topological insulators and superconductors. We show that at zero temperature both quantities predict quantum phase transitions: a sudden drop of fidelity indicates an abrupt change of the spectrum of the state, while the behavior of the Uhlmann connection signals equally rapid change in its eigenbasis. At finite temperature, the topological features are gradually smeared out, indicating the absence of finite-temperature phase transitions, which we further confirm by performing a detailed analysis of the edge states. Moreover, we performed both analytical and numerical analysis of the fidelity susceptibility in the thermodynamic limit, providing an explicit quantitative criterion for the existence of phase transitions. The critical behaviour at zero temperature is further analysed through the numerical computation of critical exponents.
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Submitted 20 September, 2018; v1 submitted 13 March, 2018;
originally announced March 2018.
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Dynamical phase transitions at finite temperature from fidelity and interferometric Loschmidt echo induced metrics
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Chrysoula Vlachou,
Nikola Paunković,
Vítor R. Vieira,
Oscar Viyuela
Abstract:
We study finite-temperature Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions (DQPTs) by means of the fidelity and the interferometric Loschmidt Echo (LE) induced metrics. We analyse the associated dynamical susceptibilities (Riemannian metrics), and derive analytic expressions for the case of two-band Hamiltonians. At zero temperature the two quantities are identical, nevertheless, at finite temperatures they…
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We study finite-temperature Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions (DQPTs) by means of the fidelity and the interferometric Loschmidt Echo (LE) induced metrics. We analyse the associated dynamical susceptibilities (Riemannian metrics), and derive analytic expressions for the case of two-band Hamiltonians. At zero temperature the two quantities are identical, nevertheless, at finite temperatures they behave very differently. Using the fidelity LE, the zero temperature DQPTs are gradually washed away with temperature, while the interferometric counterpart exhibits finite-temperature Phase Transitions (PTs). We analyse the physical differences between the two finite-temperature LE generalisations, and argue that, while the interferometric one is more sensitive and can therefore provide more information when applied to genuine quantum (microscopic) systems, when analysing many-body macroscopic systems, the fidelity-based counterpart is a more suitable quantity to study. Finally, we apply the previous results to two representative models of topological insulators in 1D and 2D.
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Submitted 13 April, 2018; v1 submitted 4 December, 2017;
originally announced December 2017.
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Topological response of gapped fermions to a $\text{U}(1)$ Gauge field
Authors:
B. Mera
Abstract:
We present a detailed path integral derivation of the topological response of gapped free fermions, in $2+1$ dimensions, to an external $\text{U}(1)$ Gauge field. The well-known Hall response is obtained by identifying the Chern-Simons term in the effective action with the correct coefficient. We extend the result to $2d+1$ dimensions in which the response is associated to a Chern-Simons term with…
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We present a detailed path integral derivation of the topological response of gapped free fermions, in $2+1$ dimensions, to an external $\text{U}(1)$ Gauge field. The well-known Hall response is obtained by identifying the Chern-Simons term in the effective action with the correct coefficient. We extend the result to $2d+1$ dimensions in which the response is associated to a Chern-Simons term with a coefficient related to a characteristic class coming from topological band theory. We comment on the bulk-to-boundary principle which arises naturally when one considers the theory on a manifold with boundary.
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Submitted 11 May, 2017;
originally announced May 2017.
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The Uhlmann connection in fermionic systems undergoing phase transitions
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Chrysoula Vlachou,
Nikola Paunković,
Vítor R. Vieira
Abstract:
We study the behaviour of the Uhlmann connection in systems of fermions undergoing phase transitions. In particular, we analyse some of the paradigmatic cases of topological insulators and superconductors in dimension one, as well as the BCS theory of superconductivity in three dimensions. We show that the Uhlmann connection signals phase transitions in which the eigenbasis of the state of the sys…
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We study the behaviour of the Uhlmann connection in systems of fermions undergoing phase transitions. In particular, we analyse some of the paradigmatic cases of topological insulators and superconductors in dimension one, as well as the BCS theory of superconductivity in three dimensions. We show that the Uhlmann connection signals phase transitions in which the eigenbasis of the state of the system changes. Moreover, using the established fidelity approach and the study of the edge states, we show the absence of thermally driven phase transitions in the case of topological insulators and superconductors. We clarify what is the relevant parameter space associated with the Uhlmann connection so that it signals the existence of order in mixed states.
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Submitted 14 June, 2017; v1 submitted 23 February, 2017;
originally announced February 2017.
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A theorem regarding families of topologically non-trivial fermionic systems
Authors:
Bruno Mera,
Miguel A. N. Araújo,
Vítor R. Vieira
Abstract:
We introduce a Hamiltonian for fermions on a lattice and prove a theorem regarding its topological properties. We identify the topological criterion as a $\mathbb{Z}_2-$ topological invariant $p(\textbf{k})$ (the Pfaffian polynomial). The topological invariant is not only the first Chern number, but also the sign of the Pfaffian polynomial coming from a notion of duality. Such Hamiltonian can desc…
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We introduce a Hamiltonian for fermions on a lattice and prove a theorem regarding its topological properties. We identify the topological criterion as a $\mathbb{Z}_2-$ topological invariant $p(\textbf{k})$ (the Pfaffian polynomial). The topological invariant is not only the first Chern number, but also the sign of the Pfaffian polynomial coming from a notion of duality. Such Hamiltonian can describe non-trivial Chern insulators, single band superconductors or multiorbital superconductors. The topological features of these families are completely determined as a consequence of our theorem. Some specific model examples are explicitly worked out, with the computation of different possible topological invariants.
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Submitted 9 July, 2015;
originally announced July 2015.
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Dynamics of magnetic moments coupled to electrons and lattice oscillations
Authors:
B. Mera,
V. R. Vieira,
V. K. Dugaev
Abstract:
Inspired by the models of A. Rebei and G. J. Parker and A. Rebei et. al., we study a physical model which describes the behaviour of magnetic moments in a ferromagnet. The magnetic moments are associated to 3d electrons which interact with conduction band electrons and with phonons. We study each interaction separately and then collect the results assuming that the electron-phonon interaction can…
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Inspired by the models of A. Rebei and G. J. Parker and A. Rebei et. al., we study a physical model which describes the behaviour of magnetic moments in a ferromagnet. The magnetic moments are associated to 3d electrons which interact with conduction band electrons and with phonons. We study each interaction separately and then collect the results assuming that the electron-phonon interaction can be neglected. For the case of the spin-phonon interaction, we study the derivation of the equations of motion for the classical spin vector and find that the correct behaviour, as given by the Brown equation for the spin vector and the Bloch equation, using the results obtained by D. A. Garanin for the average over fluctuations of the spin vector, can be obtained in the high temperature limit. At finite temperatures we show that the Markovian approximation for the fluctuations is not correct for time scales below some thermal correlation time $τ_{Th}$. For the case of electrons we workout a perturbative expansion of the Feynman-Vernon functional. We find the expression for the random field correlation function. The composite model (as well as the individual models) is shown to satisfy a fluctuation-dissipation theorem for all temperature regimes if the behaviour of the coupling constants of the phonon-spin interaction remains unchanged with the temperature. The equations of motion are derived.
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Submitted 29 June, 2012;
originally announced June 2012.