Paper detail

Thermodynamic and topological phase diagrams of correlated topological insulators

A definition of topological phases of density matrices is presented. The topological invariants in case of both noninteracting and interacting systems are extended to nonzero temperatures. Influence of electron interactions on topological insulators at finite temperatures is investigated. A correlated topological insulator is described by the Kane-Mele model, which is extended by the interaction term of the Falicov-Kimball type. Within the Hartree-Fock and the Hubbard I approximations the thermodynamic and topological phase diagrams are determined, where the long-range order is included. The results show that correlation effects lead to a strong suppression of the existence of the nontrivial topological phase. In the homogeneous phase we find a purely-correlation driven phase transition into the topologically trivial Mott insulator.