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Mechanical topological insulator in zero dimensions

Abstract

We study linear vibrational modes in finite isostatic Maxwell lattices, mechanical systems where the number of degrees of freedom matches the number of constraints. Recent progress in topological mechanics exploits the nontrivial topology of BDI class Hamiltonians in one dimenson and arising topological floppy modes at the edges. A finite frame, or zero-dimensional system, also exhibits a nonzero topological index according to the classification table. We construct mechanical insulating models in zero dimensions that complete the BDI classification in the available real space dimensions. We compute and interpret its nontrivial invariant Z2.N.L. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through The María de Maeztu Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (Grant No. MDM-2014-0377). This work has been funded by MINECO Grant No. FIS2015-64886-C5-5-

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