Berlin 2018 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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SYTO: Symposium Topology in Condensed Matter Physics

SYTO 1: Topology in Condensed Matter Physics

SYTO 1.3: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 14. März 2018, 10:30–11:00, H 0105

Topological Order of Interacting Polymers on a Substrate — •Vincenzo Vitelli — Physics Department, University of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, USA

Polymer liquids at interfaces have many applications ranging from anisotropic surface reflectivity and nanowire templates to directional lubrication. However, robust nanoscale control of polymer-liquid structure remains challenging. In this talk, we demonstrate how to generate topologically protected interfacial patterns by exploiting the interplay between thermal fluctuations and strong interactions between directed polymers (subject to a spatially modulated substrate potential). Unlike other classical analogues of electronic topological insulators, here topological protection does not manifest itself in edge modes, but rather in the collective alignment of the polymer chains along selected substrate directions. This equilibrium orientation angle is proportional to a Chern number and, therefore, is topologically robust against substrate disorder. We establish this conclusion numerically and theoretically by introducing a mathematical mapping between the polymeric pattern and Thouless pumping in an imaginary-time Mott insulator. Our results highlight a general strategy to export topological protection associated with wave-like states in electronic Chern insulators (subject to Pauli exclusion principle) to soft matter systems described by the diffusion equation with the addition of strong interactions.