arXiv · 1411.1753
Adiabatic Pumping of Chern-Simons Axion Coupling
Abstract
We study the adiabatic pumping of the Chern-Simons axion (CSA) coupling along a parametric loop characterized by a non-zero second Chern number $C^{(2)}$ from the viewpoint of the hybrid Wannier representation, in which the Wannier charge centers (WCCs) are visualized as sheets defined over a projected 2D Brillouin zone. We derive a new formula for the CSA coupling, expressing it as an integral involving Berry curvatures and potentials defined on the WCC sheets. We show that a loop characterized by a non-zero $C^{(2)}$ requires a series of sheet-touching events at which $2π$ quanta of Berry curvature are passed from sheet to sheet, in such a way that $e^2/h$ units of CSA coupling are pumped by a lattice vector by the end of the cycle. We illustrate these behaviors via explicit calculations on a model tight-binding Hamiltonian and discuss their implications.
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Maryam Taherinejad, David Vanderbilt. 2014-11-06. Adiabatic Pumping of Chern-Simons Axion Coupling. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.096401
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