## Finite-size and interaction effects on topological phase transitions via numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo calculations    [PDF]

Hsiang-Hsuan Hung, Victor Chua, Lei Wang, Gregory A. Fiete
We theoretically study topological phase transitions in two generalized versions of the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model on a finite portion of the honeycomb lattice with up to $2\times 18^2$ sites. Both models are free of the fermion-sign problem allowing numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo calculations to be performed in the low-temperature regime. We numerically compute the $Z_2$ invariant and the spin-Chern number directly from the zero-frequency single-particle Greens function for different values of on-site interaction and tune tight-binding parameters to drive topological phase transitions. While phase boundaries are nearly identical for different system sizes, we find a rather strong system-size dependence of the spin Chern number, with the expected quantized value only slowly approached for the largest system sizes. Moreover, we find that quantum fluctuation effects from interactions can act both to stabilize and destabilize topological phases, depending on the details of the model.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.2659