Affiliation
MIT
Title of work
Universal bounds in topological phases
Abstract
Topology is a key concept in modern condensed matter physics. The existence of the energy gap between the ground state and the excited states allows us to define the topological phases of matter. One of the most remarkable consequences of topology is the universally quantized response, such as (fractional) quantum Hall conductance.
In this poster, we show a new universal feature of topological phases: topological bound. We show a fundamental bound on the energy gap and the structure factor in topological phases characterized by the many-body Chern number. The bound relies only on fundamental physical principles -- causality and non-negativity of energy dissipation -- and thus applies to a wide range of systems, including fractional quantum Hall systems.
Our topological bound reveals new universal information about topological phases of matter.