Interfacial Line Energy of a Topological Phase

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mondal, Saikat, Agarwala, Adhip
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Mondal, Saikat
Agarwala, Adhip
author_facet Mondal, Saikat
Agarwala, Adhip
contents In interacting topological systems, Landau-like order parameters interplay with the band topology of fermions. The physics of domain formation in such systems can get significantly altered due to the presence of topological fermions. In this work we show that coupling a topological fermionic field to a scalar field can drastically modify the nucleation processes. We find that existence of non-trivial fermionic boundary modes on the nucleating droplets of the scalar field leads to substantial quantum corrections to the interface energy. This leads to an increase in the size of the critical nucleus beyond which unrestricted droplet growth happens. To illustrate the phenomena we devise a minimal model of fermions in a Chern insulating system coupled to a classical Ising field in two spatial dimensions. Using a combination of analytic and numerical methods we conclusively demonstrate that topological phases have a characteristic quantum correction to the interfacial line energy. Apart from material systems, our work opens up a host of questions regarding the impact of fermionic topological terms on classical phase transitions and associated criticality.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_11102
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interfacial Line Energy of a Topological Phase
Mondal, Saikat
Agarwala, Adhip
Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Strongly Correlated Electrons
In interacting topological systems, Landau-like order parameters interplay with the band topology of fermions. The physics of domain formation in such systems can get significantly altered due to the presence of topological fermions. In this work we show that coupling a topological fermionic field to a scalar field can drastically modify the nucleation processes. We find that existence of non-trivial fermionic boundary modes on the nucleating droplets of the scalar field leads to substantial quantum corrections to the interface energy. This leads to an increase in the size of the critical nucleus beyond which unrestricted droplet growth happens. To illustrate the phenomena we devise a minimal model of fermions in a Chern insulating system coupled to a classical Ising field in two spatial dimensions. Using a combination of analytic and numerical methods we conclusively demonstrate that topological phases have a characteristic quantum correction to the interfacial line energy. Apart from material systems, our work opens up a host of questions regarding the impact of fermionic topological terms on classical phase transitions and associated criticality.
title Interfacial Line Energy of a Topological Phase
topic Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11102