Ricerc@Sapienza

Gapped periodic quantum systems exhibit an interesting Localization Dichotomy, which emerges when one looks at the localization of the optimally localized Wannier functions associated to the Bloch bands below the gap. As recently proved, either these Wannier functions are exponentially localized, as it happens whenever the Hamiltonian operator is time-reversal symmetric, or they are delocalized in the sense that the expectation value of |x| 2 diverges. Intermediate regimes are forbidden.

We investigate spin transport in $2$-dimensional insulators, with the long-term goal of establishing whether any of the transport coefficients corresponds to the Fu-Kane-Mele index which characterizes $2d$ time-reversal-symmetric topological insulators.