4 research outputs found
Charge Deficiency, Charge Transport and Comparison of Dimensions
We study the relative index of two orthogonal infinite dimensional
projections which, in the finite dimensional case, is the difference in their
dimensions. We relate the relative index to the Fredholm index of appropriate
operators, discuss its basic properties, and obtain various formulas for it. We
apply the relative index to counting the change in the number of electrons
below the Fermi energy of certain quantum systems and interpret it as the
charge deficiency. We study the relation of the charge deficiency with the
notion of adiabatic charge transport that arises from the consideration of the
adiabatic curvature. It is shown that, under a certain covariance,
(homogeneity), condition the two are related. The relative index is related to
Bellissard's theory of the Integer Hall effect. For Landau Hamiltonians the
relative index is computed explicitly for all Landau levels.Comment: 23 pages, no figure