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 language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 295-309 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Nuclear Physics B |
| Volume | 860 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 11 Jul 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Fermionic vacua
- Lattice gauge theory
- Momentum space topological invariants
- Semimentals
- Topological insulators
- Wilson fermions