Ab initio analysis of the topological phase diagram of the Haldane model

Abstract

We present an ab initio analysis of a continuous Hamiltonian that maps into the celebrated Haldane model. The tunneling coefficients of the tight-binding model are computed by means of two independent methods—one based on the maximally localized Wannier functions, and the other through analytic expressions in terms of gauge-invariant properties of the spectrum—that provide a remarkable agreement and allow one to accurately reproduce the exact spectrum of the continuous Hamiltonian. By combining these results with the numerical calculation of the Chern number, we are able to draw the phase diagram in terms of the physical parameters of the microscopic model. Remarkably, we find that only a small fraction of the original phase diagram of the Haldane model can be accessed, and that the topological insulator phase is suppressed in the deep tight-binding regime.