Transgression Field Theory at the Interface of Topological Insulators

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AÇIK Ö., Ertem U.

ADVANCES IN APPLIED CLIFFORD ALGEBRAS, vol.27, no.3, pp.2235-2245, 2017 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 27 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2017
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s00006-017-0761-7
  • Journal Name: ADVANCES IN APPLIED CLIFFORD ALGEBRAS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.2235-2245
  • Keywords: Topological insulators, Chern-Simons theory, BF theory, Transgression field theory, CHERN-SIMONS, HALL
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Topological phases of matter can be classified by using Clifford algebras through Bott periodicity. We consider effective topological field theories of quantum Hall systems and topological insulators that are Chern-Simons and BF field theories. The edge states of these systems are related to the gauge invariance of the effective actions. For the edge states at the interface of two topological insulators, transgression field theory is proposed as a gauge invariant effective action. Transgression actions of Chern-Simons theories for (2+1)D and (4+1)D and BF theories for (3+1)D are constructed. By using transgression actions, the edge states are written in terms of the bulk connections of effective Chern-Simons and BF theories.