Route towards Localization for Quantum Anomalous Hall Systems with Chern Number 2

TL;DR

This paper explores the transition from a Chern number 2 quantum anomalous Hall state to an insulator, revealing a fleeting Chern number 1 state during localization, supported by numerical and topological analysis.

Contribution

It uncovers the topological origin of the direct transition without an intermediate Chern number 1 plateau and demonstrates the universality of this phenomenon.

Findings

Existence of a short-lived Chern number 1 state during localization

The Chern number 1 state acts as an unstable fixed point in conductance flow

Universal behavior of high Chern number insulator transitions

Abstract

The quantum anomalous Hall system with Chern number 2 can be destroyed by sufficiently strong disorder. During its process towards localization, it was found that the electronic states will be directly localized to an Anderson insulator (with Chern number 0), without an intermediate Hall plateau with Chern number 1. Here we investigate the topological origin of this phenomenon, by calculating the band structures and Chern numbers for disordered supercells. We find that on the route towards localization, there exists a hidden state with Chern number 1, but it is too short and too fluctuating to be practically observable. This intermediate state cannot be stabilized even after some "smart design" of the model and this should be a universal phenomena for insulators with high Chern numbers. By performing numerical scaling of conductances, we also plot the renormalization group flows for this transition, with Chern number 1 state as an unstable fixed point. This is distinct from known results, and can be tested by experiments and further theoretical analysis.