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Fragility of time-reversal symmetry protected topological phases

Nature Physics volume 16, pages 1181–1183 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The second law of thermodynamics points to the existence of an ‘arrow of time’, along which entropy only increases. This arises despite the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of the microscopic laws of nature. Within quantum theory, TRS underpins many interesting phenomena, most notably topological insulators1,2,3,4 and the Haldane phase of quantum magnets5,6. Here, we demonstrate that such TRS-protected effects are fundamentally unstable against coupling to an environment. Irrespective of the microscopic symmetries, interactions between a quantum system and its surroundings facilitate processes that would be forbidden by TRS in an isolated system. This leads not only to entanglement entropy production and the emergence of macroscopic irreversibility7,8,9, but also to the demise of TRS-protected phenomena, including those associated with certain symmetry-protected topological phases. Our results highlight the enigmatic nature of TRS in quantum mechanics and elucidate potential challenges in utilizing topological systems for quantum technologies.

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Fig. 1: Decoherence mechanisms for topological bound states coupled to an environment.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an EPSRC studentship and grants EP/P034616/1 and EP/P009565/1, and by an Investigator Award of the Simons Foundation.

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  1. TCM Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Max McGinley & Nigel R. Cooper

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  1. Max McGinley
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the formulation of the study, interpretation of the results and writing of the manuscript. M.M. developed and performed the calculations.

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Correspondence to Max McGinley.

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Peer review information Nature Physics thanks Zhong Wang and other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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McGinley, M., Cooper, N.R. Fragility of time-reversal symmetry protected topological phases. Nat. Phys. 16, 1181–1183 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0956-z

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