T-Duality of Topological Insulators

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel duality for topological insulators inspired by T-duality in string theory, revealing a geometric transform that exchanges key topological invariants in 2D Chern insulators.

Contribution

It establishes a new duality framework linking topological insulators and string theory concepts through a geometric transform.

Findings

Duality exchanges rank and Chern number in 2D insulators

Connects topological insulators with D-brane charges in string theory

Provides a new perspective on topological invariants

Abstract

Topological insulators and D-brane charges in string theory can both be classified by the same family of groups. In this paper, we extend this connection via a geometric transform, giving a novel duality of topological insulators which can be viewed as a condensed matter analog of T-duality in string theory. For 2D Chern insulators, this duality exchanges the rank and Chern number of the valence bands.