An infinitely thin solenoid carrying magnetic flux Φ (a "Dirac string") inserted into an ordinary band insulator has no significant effect on the spectrum of electrons. In a strong topological insulator, remarkably, such a solenoid carries protected gapless one-dimensional fermionic modes when Φ=hc/2e. These modes are spin-filtered and represent a distinct bulk manifestation of the topologically nontrivial insulator. We establish this "wormhole" effect by both general qualitative considerations and by numerical calculations within a minimal lattice model. We also discuss the possibility of experimental observation of a closely related effect in artificially engineered nanostructures. © 2010 The American Physical Society.
CITATION STYLE
Rosenberg, G., Guo, H. M., & Franz, M. (2010). Wormhole effect in a strong topological insulator. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 82(4). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.041104
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