Topological Band Theory for Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

We develop the topological band theory for systems described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose energy spectra are generally complex. After generalizing the notion of gapped band structures to the non-Hermitian case, we classify "gapped" bands in one and two dimensions by explicitly finding their topological invariants. We find nontrivial generalizations of the Chern number in two dimensions, and a new classification in one dimension, whose topology is determined by the energy dispersion rather than the energy eigenstates. We then study the bulk-edge correspondence and the topological phase transition in two dimensions. Different from the Hermitian case, the transition generically involves an extended intermediate phase with complex-energy band degeneracies at isolated "exceptional points" in momentum space. We also systematically classify all types of band degeneracies.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures + 6 pages of supplemental materia

Probing crossover from analogous weak antilocalization to localization by an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer on topological insulator surface

We propose a scanning tunneling microscopy Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer on the surface of a topological insulator (TI) to probe the crossover from analogous weak antilocalization (WAL) to weak localization (WL) phenomenon via the AB oscillations in spin-resolved local density of states (LDOS). Based on our analytical and numerical results, we show that with increasing the energy gap of TI surface states, the $\Phi_{0}/2$=$hc/2e$ periodic AB oscillations in spin-resolved LDOS gradually transit into the $\Phi_{0}$ periodic oscillations.Comment: 4.2 APL pages, 2 figure