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Colored ΔT noise probes the topological character of edge modes

2026/07/19 by Sachiraj Mishra, Colin Benjamin
#cond-mat.mes-hall #hep-th #math-ph #math.MP #physics.app-ph #quant-ph

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Abstract

We investigate colored ΔT noise, i.e., finite-frequency ΔT noise, as a probe of edge-mode (EM) transport in quantum Hall and quantum spin Hall systems. Colored ΔT noise probes finite-frequency nonequilibrium current fluctuations and dynamical transport properties that are often obscured in DC measurements of conductance and noise. Since ΔT noise is driven solely by a temperature and voltage bias under zero average charge current conditions, it eliminates current-induced Joule heating and directly probes intrinsic thermal fluctuations. We show that chiral, spin-conserving helical, and spin-flip helical (trivial) EMs exhibit distinct colored ΔT-noise signatures under appropriate bias protocols. Incorporating energy-dependent scattering through a quantum point contact, we demonstrate that electron-hole asymmetry significantly modifies the finite-frequency spectrum while preserving these distinguishing features. Notably, colored ΔT noise exhibits a frequency-dependent sign reversal absent in the corresponding white (ω=0) ΔT noise. We further investigate zero-temperature colored quantum shot noise and find that it vanishes identically for chiral EMs, whereas the spin-conserving helical response changes sign with frequency. By contrast, spin-flip helical (trivial) EMs exhibit a positive colored shot-noise spectrum. However, the corresponding colored ΔT noise retains its characteristic sign reversal, providing a robust distinction between spin-conserving helical and spin-flip helical (trivial) EM transport. These results establish colored ΔT noise as a robust, experimentally accessible, complementary probe for identifying chiral, spin-conserving helical, and spin-flip helical (trivial) EM transport in mesoscopic topological systems.

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