Fractional Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions
- Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
- Microsoft Research, Station Q, Elings Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560 (United States)
Topological insulators can be generally defined by a topological field theory with an axion angle {theta} of 0 or {pi}. In this work, we introduce the concept of fractional topological insulator defined by a fractional axion angle and show that it can be consistent with time reversal T invariance if ground state degeneracies are present. The fractional axion angle can be measured experimentally by the quantized fractional bulk magnetoelectric polarization P{sub 3}, and a 'halved' fractional quantum Hall effect on the surface with Hall conductance of the form {sigma}{sub H}=(p/q)(e{sup 2}/2h) with p, q odd. In the simplest of these states the electron behaves as a bound state of three fractionally charged 'quarks' coupled to a deconfined non-Abelian SU(3) 'color' gauge field, where the fractional charge of the quarks changes the quantization condition of P{sub 3} and allows fractional values consistent with T invariance.
- OSTI ID:
- 21554467
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 24; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.246809; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BOUND STATE
COLOR
COLOR MODEL
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRONS
FIELD THEORIES
HALL EFFECT
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
POLARIZATION
QUANTIZATION
QUARKS
SURFACES
T INVARIANCE
TOPOLOGY
COMPOSITE MODELS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LEPTONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ORGANOLEPTIC PROPERTIES
PARTICLE MODELS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUARK MODEL