Steve Simon

Abstract:

We study a single impurity driven by a constant force through a one-dimensional Bose gas using a LiebLiniger based approach. Our calculaton is exact in the interaction amongst the particles in the Bose gas, and is perturbative in the interaction between the gas and the impurity. In contrast to previous studies of this problem, we are able to handle arbitrary interaction strength for the Bose gas. We find very good agreement with recent experiments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 150601 (2009)].

Abstract:

Even if a noninteracting system has zero Berry curvature everywhere in the Brillouin zone, it is possible to introduce interactions that stabilize a fractional Chern insulator. These interactions necessarily break time-reversal symmetry (either spontaneously or explicitly) and have the effect of altering the underlying band structure. We outline a number of ways in which this may be achieved and show how similar interactions may also be used to create a (time-reversal-symmetric) fractional topological insulator. While our approach is rigorous in the limit of long-range interactions, we show numerically that even for short-range interactions a fractional Chern insulator can be stabilized in a band with zero Berry curvature.