2025/09/12 by Schindler, Frank
#FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.19320
These lecture notes explain the classification of some simple fermionic topological phases of matter in a pedestrian manner, with an aim to be maximally pedagogical = doing things in excruciating detail. We focus on a many-body perspective, even if many of the models we work with are non-interacting. We start out with symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases of free fermions that are protected by U(1) symmetry = topological insulators. We then look at fermion topological phases that don't even need a symmetry = topological superconductors, and explain how their classification changes in presence of spinless time-reversal symmetry. We close by perturbatively checking which of the 1D topological phases we had found are stable to interactions.