1206.2646 (Manuel J. Schmidt)

Strong correlations at topological insulator surfaces and the breakdown
of the bulk-boundary correspondence    [PDF]

Manuel J. Schmidt

The criteria for strong correlations on surfaces of three-dimensional topological insulators are discussed. Usually, the Coulomb repulsion at such surfaces is too weak for driving a phase transition to a strongly correlated regime. I discuss a mechanism and possibilities of its experimental implementation by which the strength of the Coulomb interaction can be tuned over a wide range. In the strongly interacting regime, the surface states are gapped, even though the topological classification of the bulk band structure predicts gapless surface states.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.2646