Higher-order topological insulators in hyperbolic lattices

TL;DR

This paper constructs higher-order topological insulators in hyperbolic lattices, revealing zero-energy corner states whose number depends on TRS breaking variations, and demonstrates their topological protection and robustness in non-Euclidean geometries.

Contribution

It introduces a model for hyperbolic higher-order topological insulators, analyzing their corner states, symmetries, and topological protection in non-Euclidean lattices.

Findings

Zero-energy corner states depend on TRS breaking period.

Corner states are protected by multiple symmetries.

Corner states are robust against disorder.

Abstract

To explore the non-Euclidean generalization of higher-order topological phenomena, we construct a higher-order topological insulator model in hyperbolic lattices by breaking the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of quantum spin Hall insulators. We investigate three kinds of hyperbolic lattices, i.e., hyperbolic $\{4,5\}$, $\{8,3\}$ and $\{12,3\}$ lattices, respectively. The non-Euclidean higher-order topological behavior is characterized by zero-energy effective corner states appearing in hyperbolic lattices. By adjusting the variation period of the TRS breaking term, we obtain 4, 8 and 12 zero-energy effective corner states in these three different hyperbolic lattices, respectively. It is found that the number of zero-energy effective corner states of a hyperbolic lattice depends on the variation period of the TRS breaking term. The real-space quadrupole moment is employed to characterize the higher-order topology of the hyperbolic lattice with four zero-energy effective corner states. Via symmetry analysis, it is confirmed that the hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states are protected by the particle-hole symmetry $P$, the effective chiral symmetry $Sm_{z}$, and combined symmetries $C_{p}T$ and $C_{p}m_{z}$. The hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states remain stable unless these four symmetries are broken simultaneously. The topological nature of hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states is further confirmed by checking the robustness of the zero-energy modes in the hyperbolic lattices in the presence of disorder. Our paper provides a route for research on hyperbolic higher-order topological insulators in non-Euclidean geometric systems.