Topological charge distributions of an interacting two-spin system

Abstract

Quantum systems are often described by parameter-dependent Hamiltonians. Points in parameter space where two levels are degenerate can carry a topological charge. Here we theoretically study an interacting two-spin system where the degeneracy points form a nodal loop or a nodal surface in the magnetic parameter space, similarly to such structures discovered in the band structure of topological semimetals. We determine the topological charge distribution along these degeneracy geometries. We show that these non-point-like degeneracy patterns can be obtained not only by fine-tuning, but they can be stabilized by spatial symmetries. Since simple spin systems such as the one studied here are ubiquitous in condensed-matter setups, we expect that our findings, and the physical consequences of these nontrivial degeneracy geometries, are testable in experiments with quantum dots, molecular magnets, and adatoms on metallic surfaces.

Weyl-point teleportation

“…However, for many materials, the spatial symmetry of the crystal structure implies that band touching can happen in the form of extended nodal structures, such as nodal lines or nodal surfaces [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Furthermore, nodal lines and nodal surfaces can also arise in parameterdependent quantum systems [22][23][24] in the presence of fine-tuning or symmetries. For brevity, we will use 'finetuned' to describe both of these scenarios.…”