Topological BF field theory description of topological insulators

Gil Young Cho; Joel E. Moore

doi:10.1016/j.aop.2010.12.011

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arXiv · 1011.3485

Topological BF field theory description of topological insulators

Gil Young Cho·Joel E. Moore

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Abstract

Topological phases of matter are described universally by topological field theories in the same way that symmetry-breaking phases of matter are described by Landau-Ginzburg field theories. We propose that topological insulators in two and three dimensions are described by a version of abelian $BF$ theory. For the two-dimensional topological insulator or quantum spin Hall state, this description is essentially equivalent to a pair of Chern-Simons theories, consistent with the realization of this phase as paired integer quantum Hall effect states. The $BF$ description can be motivated from the local excitations produced when a $\pi$ flux is threaded through this state. For the three-dimensional topological insulator, the $BF$ description is less obvious but quite versatile: it contains a gapless surface Dirac fermion when time-reversal-symmetry is preserved and yields "axion electrodynamics", i.e., an electromagnetic $E \cdot B$ term, when time-reversal symmetry is broken and the surfaces are gapped. Just as changing the coefficients and charges of 2D Chern-Simons theory allows one to obtain fractional quantum Hall states starting from integer states, $BF$ theory could also describe (at a macroscopic level) fractional 3D topological insulators with fractional statistics of point-like and line-like objects.

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Gil Young Cho, Joel E. Moore. 2010-11-15. Topological BF field theory description of topological insulators. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2010.12.011

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