Litcius/Paper detail

Model Hamiltonian for altermagnetic topological insulators

Rafael González‐Hernández, Bernardo Uribe

2025Physical review. B./Physical review. B6 citationsDOI

Abstract

We present models of topological insulating Hamiltonians exhibiting intrinsic altermagnetic features, protected by combined threefold or fourfold rotational symmetries with time-reversal. We demonstrate that the spin Chern number serves as a robust topological invariant in two-dimensional systems, while for three-dimensional structures, the topological nature is characterized by the spin Chern numbers computed on the ${k}_{z}=0$ and ${k}_{z}=\ensuremath{\pi}$ planes. The resulting phases support symmetry-protected boundary modes, including corner, hinges, and surface states, whose structure is determined by the magnetic symmetry and the local magnetic moments. Our findings bridge the fields of altermagnetism and topological quantum matter, and they establish a theoretical framework for engineering spintronic topological systems without net magnetization.

Topics & Concepts

Topological insulatorSymmetry protected topological orderHomogeneous spacePhysicsTopological entropy in physicsHamiltonian (control theory)Topological orderTopological degeneracyChern classTopology (electrical circuits)Invariant (physics)Topological quantum numberSpintronicsQuantumSymmetry (geometry)Theoretical physicsBoundary (topology)Spin (aerodynamics)Quantum mechanicsInfinitesimalZero-dimensional spaceSurface (topology)Topological algebraTopological ringTopological Materials and PhenomenaChemical and Physical Properties of MaterialsQuantum and electron transport phenomena
Model Hamiltonian for altermagnetic topological insulators | Litcius