Momentum space topological invariants for the 4D relativistic vacua with mass gap

M. A. Zubkov, G. E. Volovik

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17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Topological invariants for the 4D gapped system are discussed with application to the quantum vacua of relativistic quantum fields. Expression N~3 for the 4D systems with mass gap defined in Volovik (2010) [13] is considered. It is demonstrated that N~3 remains the topological invariant when the interacting theory in deep ultraviolet is effectively massless. We also consider the 5D systems and demonstrate how 4D invariants emerge as a result of the dimensional reduction. In particular, the new 4D invariant N~5 is suggested. The index theorem is proved that defines the number of massless fermions n F in the intermediate vacuum, which exists at the transition line between the massive vacua with different values of N~5. Namely, 2n F is equal to the jump δN~5 across the transition. The jump δN~3 at the transition determines the number of only those massless fermions, which live near the hypersurface ω=0. The considered invariants are calculated for the lattice model with Wilson fermions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)295-309
Number of pages15
JournalNuclear Physics B
Volume860
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Jul 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Fermionic vacua
  • Lattice gauge theory
  • Momentum space topological invariants
  • Semimentals
  • Topological insulators
  • Wilson fermions

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