Hydrodynamic theory of surface excitations of three-dimensional topological insulators

TL;DR

This paper develops a hydrodynamic theory using multidimensional bosonization to describe surface excitations in three-dimensional topological insulators, paralleling methods used for quantum Hall edge states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework based on Luther's multidimensional bosonization for analyzing surface states of 3D topological insulators.

Findings

Provides a new hydrodynamic description of surface excitations.

Establishes a connection between quantum Hall edge states and topological insulator surfaces.

Offers a theoretical tool for future experimental and theoretical studies.

Abstract

Edge excitations of a fractional quantum Hall system can be derived as surface excitations of an incompressible quantum droplet using one dimensional chiral bosonization. Here we show that an analogous approach can be developed to characterize surface states of three-dimensional time reversal invariant topological insulators. The key ingredient of our theory is the Luther's multidimensional bosonization construction.