Topological materials and quantum entanglement
Author(s)
Timothy H. Hsieh, Timothy (Timothy Hwa-wei)
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Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.
Advisor
Liang Fu.
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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).
Date issued
2015Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of PhysicsPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Physics.