Winding topology of multifold exceptional points

Despite their ubiquity, a systematic classification of multifold exceptional points, n-fold spectral degeneracies (EPns), remains a significant unsolved problem. In this article, we characterize the Abelian eigenvalue topology of generic EPns and symmetry-protected EPns for arbitrary n. The former a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tsuneya Yoshida, J. Lukas K. König, Lukas Rødland, Emil J. Bergholtz, Marcus Stålhammar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-01-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012021
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Summary:Despite their ubiquity, a systematic classification of multifold exceptional points, n-fold spectral degeneracies (EPns), remains a significant unsolved problem. In this article, we characterize the Abelian eigenvalue topology of generic EPns and symmetry-protected EPns for arbitrary n. The former and the latter emerge in (2n−2)- and (n−1)-dimensional parameter spaces, respectively. By introducing topological invariants called resultant winding numbers, we elucidate that these EPns are stable due to topology of a map from a base space (momentum or parameter space) to a sphere defined by resultants. In a D-dimensional parameter space (D≥c), the resultant winding numbers topologically characterize (D−c)-dimensional manifolds of generic (symmetry-protected) EPns, whose codimension is c=2n−2 (c=n−1). Our framework implies fundamental doubling theorems for both generic EPns and symmetry-protected EPns in n-band models.
ISSN:2643-1564