Fractional Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions

Journal Article · Fri Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.246809· OSTI ID:21554467

Maciejko, Joseph; Shoucheng, Zhang ^[1]; Xiaoliang, Qi ^[2]; Karch, Andreas ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
2. Microsoft Research, Station Q, Elings Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
3. 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

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
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