Topological order of a Polymer Chain in a Time-Dependent Potential

ORAL

Abstract

We study the effect of a polymer chain under a time-dependent external potential which presents broken time-reversal symmetry and find that a polymer chain can exhibit the classical counterpart of the Thouless quantum pump in the limit of strong potentials, signaling the existence of topological order in a polymer system. The topological order is quantized in terms of Chern numbers which is observed after explicit calculations. Since this quantization is topological protected against a small amount of disorder and other factors, our model can be used to the design of topological polymer's materials that illustrates different configurations of a polymer for practical uses

Authors

  • Ricard Pablo Pedro

    • MIT
  • Jayson Paulose

    • Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics
    • Lorentz Institute
  • Mildred Dresselhaus

    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Vincenzo Vitelli

    • Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics
    • Leiden University
    • Institute Lorentz, Leiden University
    • Lorentz Institute
    • University of Leiden