Counting Edge Modes with the Higher Berry Curvature: A Bulk Topological Order Parameter for Quantum Spin Chains

Abstract

We show that the higher Berry curvature (HBC) can be used to count the gapless edge modes created by an entanglement cut, and thus defines an integer-valued topological order parameter for quantum spin chains. Given an individual spin-chain Hamiltonian, we construct an extending family by interpolating to a reference product N\'eel state, and show that the integral of the HBC over this extension is equal to the ordinary Berry phase of half of the chain swept out in response to an \textit{infinitesimal} field. It thus counts the spin of the gapless edge modes exposed by the cut, and a change in its integer value signals a phase transition. We illustrate this with several examples: $S=1/2$, $S=1$, and $S=3/2$ spin-Peierls chains, which undergo `singlet flop' transitions between different patterns of dimerisation; the bilinear-biquadratic chain, which clarifies the connection to the strict symmetry-protected topological phases classification; and the staggered $J_1$--$J_2$ chain, which has both nearest-neighbour and third-neighbour patterns of singlets depending on the signs of the interactions.