Topological phase transitions

and topological phases of matter

刘 博
西安交通大学理学院
应用物理系
 What is topology ？
In mathematics, Topology is concerned with the properties of space that are
preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching and bending,
but not tearing or gluing.
 Why need topology ？
Conventional phases: classified by broken symmetry and characterized
by corresponding orders.

Crystals break the translational

Superconductors break the
and rotational symmetries of
gauge (typical U(1)) symmetry
free space.

There are testable results that come out of the “Landau theory” of symmetry-
breaking: like “Universality” at continuous phase transitions
 Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition

2016

Kosterlitz Thouless

Problem ： Fluctuations lead to the

destruction of long-range order at any finite
temperature in dimensions d≤2 ---Mermin-
Wagner Theorem

XY-model
 2016
Kosterlitz Thouless Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-
Thouless Transition

Problem ： transition from bound vortex-

antivortex pairs to unpaired vortices and
anti-vortices without any symmetry
breaking
New discovery: “quasi long-range order”

vortex and antivortex

 Quantum Hall effect

B I Hall resistivity

electron gas

* In the integer quantum Hall effect, different Hall plateaus correspond to different
integers, while the transitions between them are not associated with
any symmetry breaking.
Traditional picture: Landau levels
Traditional picture: Landau levels

Question: how precise the quantization is?

To answer: Topology

Continuous deformation
 Topological invariants
From mathematics:
 The role of the edge states
There are metallic edges at the
boundaries of our 2D electronic system,
where the conduction occurs.

 These metallic edges are “chiral”

quantum wires (one-way streets). Each
wire gives one conductance quantum
(e2/h).
Conclusion:
 Topological phases

Key point:
 Quantum anomalous Hall effect
---quantum Hall effect without Landau level

Haldane 2016
Experimental realization of the topological
Haldane model in ultracold gases

Tilman Esslinger ETH

Lattice Shaking:
Quantum computer
 Why it works?

The quantum computers use atoms (quanta) as its physical system.

Equal number of qubits and regular bits, the qubits will hold
twice the information, i.e. if there are n qubits, then it will
have 2^n different states. Hold more information as compared to regular digital
bits thereby increasing the speed of the system exponentially.
Realization of braiding