Topological Invariants of a Filling-Enforced Quantum Band Insulator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in certain filling-enforced quantum band insulators, electron filling directly determines nontrivial topological invariants, linking band topology with electron count in a specific space group.

Contribution

It proves that 4-band feQBIs in space group 106 with filling 2 necessarily possess a nontrivial $ ext{Z}_2$ glide invariant and a quantized magnetoelectric polarizability $ heta= ext{pi}$.

Findings

Any 4-band feQBI in space group 106 with filling 2 has a nontrivial topological invariant.

Such insulators exhibit a quantized magnetoelectric polarizability $ heta= ext{pi}$.

Electron filling and band topology are directly connected in this example.

Abstract

Traditional ionic/covalent compound insulators arise from a commensuration between electron count and system volume. On the other hand, conventional topological insulators, outside of quantum hall effect systems, do not typically display such a commensuration. Tnstead, they can undergo a phase transition to a trivial insulator that preserves the electron filling. Nevertheless, in some crystalline insulators, termed filling-enforced quantum band insulators (feQBIs), electron filling can dictate nontrivial topology in the insulating ground state. Currently, little is known about the relation between feQBIs and conventional topological invariants. In this work, we study such relations for a particularly interesting example of a half-filling feQBI that is realized in space group 106 with spinless electrons. We prove that any 4-band feQBI in space group 106 with filling 2 must have a nontrivial topological invariant, namely the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ glide invariant, and thus must have a quantized magnetoelectric polarizability $\theta=\pi$. We thus have found a three-dimensional example where electron filling and band topology are tied. Such a locking raises intriguing questions about the generality of the band-inversion paradigm in describing the transition between trivial and topological phases.