Tuesday's seminar

[Cond.Matt. & Stat.Mech.Section]

JOINT ICTP/SISSA STATISTICAL PHYSICS SEMINAR

 

Tuesday, 5 May  -   11:00 a.m.

 


SISSA, Santorio Building,   Room 128 (First floor)

 


Joe BHASEEN   (King's College London)



"Quantum quenches in Chern insulators"


Abstract


In this talk I will discuss the non-equilibrium response of Chern insulators [1]. Focusing on the Haldane model, we study the dynamics induced by quantum quenches between topological and non-topological phases. A notable feature is that the Chern number, calculated for an infinite system, is unchanged under the dynamics following such a quench. However, in finite geometries, the initial and final Hamiltonians are distinguished by the presence or absence of edge modes. We study the edge excitations and describe their impact on the experimentally-observable edge currents and magnetization. We show that, following a quantum quench, the edge currents relax towards new equilibrium values, and that there is light-cone spreading of the currents into the interior of the sample. 

[1] M. D. Caio, N. R. Cooper, M. J. Bhaseen, Quantum Quenches in Chern Insulators, arXiv:1504.01910