The edge spectrum of Chern insulators with rough boundaries

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether rough boundaries in Chern insulators disrupt the edge spectrum, using a new abstract framework linking edge current expectations to Fredholm operator indices, demonstrating invariance under boundary deformations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel abstract framework connecting edge current expectations to Fredholm indices, showing the robustness of the edge spectrum against boundary roughness in Chern insulators.

Findings

Edge spectrum remains stable despite boundary roughness.

The expectation value of edge current is linked to a Fredholm index.

The framework applies to arbitrary boundary deformations.

Abstract

Chern insulators are periodic band insulators with the property that their projector onto the occupied bands have non-zero Chern number. Chern insulator with a homogeneous boundary display continuum spectrum that fills the entire insulating gap. The local density of states corresponding to this part of the spectrum is localized near the boundary, hence the terminology edge spectrum. An interesting question arises, namely, if a rough boundary, which can be seen as a strong random potential acting on these quasi 1-dimensional states, would destroy the continuum edge spectrum. This paper shows how such question can be answered via a newly formulated abstract framework in which the expectation value of the current of a general observable is connected to the index of a specific Fredholm operator. For the present application, we will connect the expectation value of the charge edge current with the index of a Fredholm operator that remains invariant under arbitrary deformations of the boundary.