Topological materials and quantum entanglement
Name
951538382-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.97 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7a0e1df958d16bc36bd9020a0096ab80
Author(s)
Timothy H. Hsieh, Timothy (Timothy Hwa-wei)
Advisor(s)
Liang Fu.
Date Issued
2015
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
As the title implies, this thesis consists of two main topics: materials which realize topological phases of matter and applications of the concept of entanglement in understanding topological phases and their transitions. The first part will focus on a particular class of materials called topological crystalline insulators (TCI), which are bulk insulators with metallic boundary states protected by crystal mirror symmetries. The realization of TCIs in the SnTe class of materials and the anti-perovskite family will be described. The second part will focus on using entanglement notions to probe a topological phase transition, based on a single topological wavefunction. This is achieved by performing extensive partitions of the wavefunction, such as a checkerboard partition. Implementing this technique in one dimension naturally involves the use of tensor networks, which will be reviewed and then utilized.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 83-91).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
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