Projective Ribbon Permutation Statistics: a Remnant of non-Abelian Braiding in Higher Dimensions

In a recent paper, Teo and Kane proposed a 3D model in which the defects support Majorana fermion zero modes. They argued that exchanging and twisting these defects would implement a set R of unitary transformations on the zero mode Hilbert space which is a 'ghostly' recollection of the action of the braid group on Ising anyons in 2D. In this paper, we find the group T_{2n} which governs the statistics of these defects by analyzing the topology of the space K_{2n} of configurations of 2n defects in a slowly spatially-varying gapped free fermion Hamiltonian: T_{2n}\equiv {\pi_1}(K_{2n})$. We find that the group T_{2n}= Z \times T^r_{2n}, where the 'ribbon permutation group' T^r_{2n} is a mild enhancement of the permutation group S_{2n}: T^r_{2n} \equiv \Z_2 \times E((Z_2)^{2n}\rtimes S_{2n}). Here, E((Z_2)^{2n}\rtimes S_{2n}) is the 'even part' of (Z_2)^{2n} \rtimes S_{2n}, namely those elements for which the total parity of the element in (Z_2)^{2n} added to the parity of the permutation is even. Surprisingly, R is only a projective representation of T_{2n}, a possibility proposed by Wilczek. Thus, Teo and Kane's defects realize `Projective Ribbon Permutation Statistics', which we show to be consistent with locality. We extend this phenomenon to other dimensions, co-dimensions, and symmetry classes. Since it is an essential input for our calculation, we review the topological classification of gapped free fermion systems and its relation to Bott periodicity.Comment: Missing figures added. Fixed some typos. Added a paragraph to the conclusio

Lecture Notes on Topological Crystalline Insulators

We give an introduction to topological crystalline insulators, that is, gapped ground states of quantum matter that are not adiabatically connected to an atomic limit without breaking symmetries that include spatial transformations, like mirror or rotational symmetries. To deduce the topological properties, we use non-Abelian Wilson loops. We also discuss in detail higher-order topological insulators with hinge and corner states, and in particular present interacting bosonic models for the latter class of systems.Comment: Lectures given at the San Sebasti\'an Topological Matter School 2017, published in "Topological Matter. Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences, vol 190. Springer, Cham

Loop-closure principles in protein folding

Simple theoretical concepts and models have been helpful to understand the folding rates and routes of single-domain proteins. As reviewed in this article, a physical principle that appears to underly these models is loop closure.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; to appear in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysic

On the Closing Lemma problem for vector fields of bounded type on the torus

We investigate the open Closing Lemma problem for vector fields on the 2-dimensional torus. Under the assumption of bounded type rotation number, the $C^r$ Closing Lemma is verified for smooth vector fields that are area-preserving at all saddle points. Namely, given such a $C^r$ vector field $X$, $r\geq 4$, with a non-trivially recurrent point $p$, there exists a vector field $Y$ arbitrarily near to $X$ in the $C^r$ topology and obtained from $X$ by a twist perturbation, such that $p$ is a periodic point of $Y$. The proof relies on a new result in 1-dimensional dynamics on the non-existence of semi-wandering intervals of smooth maps of the circle.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

An Introduction to Topological Insulators

Electronic bands in crystals are described by an ensemble of Bloch wave functions indexed by momenta defined in the first Brillouin Zone, and their associated energies. In an insulator, an energy gap around the chemical potential separates valence bands from conduction bands. The ensemble of valence bands is then a well defined object, which can possess non-trivial or twisted topological properties. In the case of a twisted topology, the insulator is called a topological insulator. We introduce this notion of topological order in insulators as an obstruction to define the Bloch wave functions over the whole Brillouin Zone using a single phase convention. Several simple historical models displaying a topological order in dimension two are considered. Various expressions of the corresponding topological index are finally discussed.Comment: 46 pages, 29 figures. This papers aims to be a pedagogical review on topological insulators. It was written for the topical issue of "Comptes Rendus de l'Acad\'emie des Sciences - Physique" devoted to topological insulators and Dirac matte