Topological models in rotationally symmetric quasicrystals

TL;DR

This paper explores topological states in two-dimensional quasicrystals under magnetic fields, revealing internal edge states and constructing models with fractional quantum Hall ground states using analytical methods.

Contribution

It introduces the Hofstadter vertex model for quasicrystals, uncovers internal edge states, and develops analytical models for fractional quantum Hall states in quasicrystalline systems.

Findings

Presence of topological edge states with two-way transport.

Discovery of internal edge-like states with non-zero Bott index.

Construction of models with Laughlin-type fractional quantum Hall states.

Abstract

We investigate the physics of quasicrystalline models in the presence of a uniform magnetic field, focusing on the presence and construction of topological states. This is done by using the Hofstadter model but with the sites and couplings denoted by the vertex model of the quasicrystal, giving the Hofstadter vertex model. We specifically consider two-dimensional quasicrystals made from tilings of two tiles with incommensurate areas, focusing on the five-fold Penrose and the eight-fold Ammann-Beenker tilings. This introduces two competing scales; the uniform magnetic field and the incommensurate scale of the cells of the tiling. Due to these competing scales the periodicity of the Hofstadter butterfly is destroyed. We observe the presence of topological edge states on the boundary of the system via the Bott index that exhibit two way transport along the edge. For the eight-fold tiling we also observe internal edge-like states with non-zero Bott index, which exhibit two way transport along this internal edge. The presence of these internal edge states is a new characteristic of quasicrystalline models in magnetic fields. We then move on to considering interacting systems. This is challenging, in part because exact diagonalization on a few tens of sites is not expected to be enough to accurately capture the physics of the quasicrystalline system, and in part because it is not clear how to construct topological flatbands having a large number of states. We show that these problems can be circumvented by building the models analytically, and in this way we construct models with Laughlin type fractional quantum Hall ground states.