Gap labelling and the pressure on the boundary

Johannes Kellendonk

Description

Gap labelling and the pressure on the boundary Johannes Kellendonk Institut Girard Desargues, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69622 Villeurbanne November 9, 2004 Abstract In quantum systems described by covariant families of 1-particle Schrodinger operators on half-spaces the pressure on the boundary per unit energy is topologically quantised if the Fermi energy lies in a gap of the bulk spectrum. Its relation with the integrated density of states can be expressed in an integrated version of Streda's formula. This leads also to a gap labelling theorem for systems with constant magnetic field. The proof uses non-commutative topology. 1 Introduction In [KS04a, KS04b] a theory was developed which relates bulk topological invariants of aperiodic quantum mechanical systems to boundary topological invariants. Such invariants describe the topological part of response coefficients in transport theory. The theory has two aspects, topological quantization and equalities between invariants. The latter has predictive character: given a bulk topological invariant there should be a topological invariant associated with the boundary behaviour which has the same numerical value and vice versa. The above-mentionned work was motivated by one application, the Integer Quantum Hall Effect. Here we present the proof of another application which was anounced in [Ke04]: To a gap label, a bulk invariant, corresponds a response coefficient related to the pressure on the boundary. Physically this means that the integrated density of states (IDS) at the Fermi level is equal to the pressure on the boundary per unit energy if the Fermi level lies in a gap of the bulk spectrum.

• order term


• systems described


• transport coefficient


• becomes anti-symmetric


• bulk systems


• topological part


• dirichlet boundary


• term π belongs


• magnetic field

Sujets

• Desargues
• Magnetic field

Informations

• Publié par: profil-urra-2012
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• Langue: English

Extrait

Gaplabellingandthepressureontheboundary JohannesKellendonk InstitutGirardDesargues,Universite´ClaudeBernardLyon1,F-69622Villeurbanne November9,2004 Abstract Inquantumsystemsdescribedbycovariantfamiliesof1-particleSchro¨dingeroperators onhalf-spacesthepressureontheboundaryperunitenergyistopologicallyquantisedif theFermienergyliesinagapofthebulkspectrum.Itsrelationwiththeintegrated densityofstatescanbeexpressedinanintegratedversionofStreda’sformula.Thisleads alsotoagaplabellingtheoremforsystemswithconstantmagneticfield.Theproofuses non-commutativetopology. 1Introduction In[KS04a,KS04b]atheorywasdevelopedwhichrelatesbulktopologicalinvariantsofaperiodic quantummechanicalsystemstoboundarytopologicalinvariants.Suchinvariantsdescribe thetopologicalpartofresponsecoefficientsintransporttheory.Thetheoryhastwoaspects, topologicalquantizationandequalitiesbetweeninvariants.Thelatterhaspredictivecharacter: givenabulktopologicalinvariantthereshouldbeatopologicalinvariantassociatedwiththe boundarybehaviourwhichhasthesamenumericalvalueandviceversa.Theabove-mentionned workwasmotivatedbyoneapplication,theIntegerQuantumHallEffect.Herewepresentthe proofofanotherapplicationwhichwasanouncedin[Ke04]:Toagaplabel,abulkinvariant, correspondsaresponsecoefficientrelatedtothepressureontheboundary.Physicallythis meansthattheintegrateddensityofstates(IDS)attheFermilevelisequaltothepressureon theboundaryperunitenergyiftheFermilevelliesinagapofthebulkspectrum.Theassociated boundaryforcecompensatestwoforces,thegradientforcefromtheelectricalpotentialandthe Lorentzforcewhicharisesinthepresenceofamagneticfield.Weobtainhenceanequationof thetype(Theorem2) IDS=Π+bσ k ,(1) alltakenattheFermienergy.HereΠisthegradientpressureperunitenergy(i.e.thegradient forceperunitareaandenergy),σ k theconductivityofthecurrentalongtheedgeinadirection determinedbythemagneticfield,andbisproportionaltothemagneticfieldstrength.More precisely,fortwo-dimensionalsystemsb= q B (Bisthemagneticfieldunderstoodasscalarand qthechargeoftheparticle)andσ k =σ Hall isthe(edge)Hallconductivity.Inthreedimensions 1

qbistheprojectionofBalongtheboundaryandσ k isthedirectconductivityofthecomponent oftheboundarycurrentwhichisperpendiculartoB.Allthesequantitiesareunderstoodas averagedasintheusualapproachtodisorderedsystems. Allthreequantitiesaretopologicallyquantised.Whereasintwo-dimensions q h 2 σ k isintegral thisisnotthecaseforΠwhichtakestypicallyvaluesinacountabledensesub-groupof R .On theotherhand,weshowthatΠislocallyconstantinB. Equation1shouldbecomparedwithStreda’sformula(12)of[St82]whichyieldsanex- pressionoftheHallconductivityofatwo-dimensionalsampleinthebulk.Underthegap conditionthedirectconductivityvanishesinthebulkandStreda’sformulacanbeobtainedas thederivativeof(1)w.r.t.themagneticfield, ∂ σ Hall =qIDS. B∂ ΠisthustheconstantofintegrationofStreda’sformula. Therearetwosimplesituationsinwhich(1)canbeverifiedwithoutthemachineryofnon- commutativetopology.ThefirstistheLandauoperatorwhichdescribesafreeelectricparticle intwodimensionsinahomogeneousperpendicularmagneticfield.Sincethepotentialiszero inthiscaseΠvanishesandtheidentitycanbeobtainedbyexplicitlycalculatingthetrace(per unitvolume)andChernnumberoftheprojectionontothenthLandaulevel.Theresultis Bq independentlyofnequalto h and1,respectively,andso(1)followsfromtheadditivityof thetraceandtheChernnumber.Thesecondexampleistheone-dimensionalsituationwhich intheperiodiccasehasbeentreatedin[Ke04]andintheaperiodiconein[KZ04].HereB=0 sothattheintegrateddensityofstatesequalsthegradientforceperunitenergy. Equation1suggeststhatthegaplabellinggroupforasystemwithnon-vanishingmagnetic fieldhasonemoregeneratorwhichaccountsforthesecondterm.Wewillpresentagap-labelling theorem(Theorem3)forsystemswithmagneticfieldwhichdemonstratesthatthisisindeed thecaseind=2.ItfollowsfromtheseargumentsthatthefirsttermΠbelongstoasub-group ofthegaplabellinggroupwhichisindependentofthemagneticfielddependingonlyonthe spatialstructure(longrangeorder)oftheaperiodicsystem. Somefunctionalanalyticresultsareprovenhereonlyford ≤ 2,becausetheyrelieheavily onresultsof[KS04a].Weconsiderthislimitationastechnicalbutnotconceptual.Thepurely topologicalresultsofSection4arenotrestrictedindimension. Thearticleisorganizedasfollows.Webeginwithashortdiscussionofresponsetheoryand introducethetransportcoefficientswhichareofinterestinthisarticle(ExamplesofSection2). InSection3werecallthemodelusedtodescribeaperiodicsystemswithandwithoutaboundary andadapttheformulationofthetransportcoefficientstothatframework.Thisallowsusto seethattheyaretopologicalandpavesthewayforaC ∗ -algebraicdescriptioninSection4.To proveEquation1weidentifythecoefficientsasresultsofpairingsbetweenhighertracesand elementsoftheK-groupsandusetheboundarymapsofnon-commutativetopologytorelate them.Section4endswithagaplabellingtheoremforsystemswithnon-vanishingmagnetic .dlefi 2