Mott Physics on Helical Edges of 2D Topological Insulators

Abstract: We study roles of electron correlations on topological insulators on the honeycomb lattice with the spin-orbit interaction. Accurate variational Monte Carlo calculations show that the increasing on-site Coulomb interactions cause a strong suppression of the charge Drude weight in the helical-edge metallic states leading to a presumable Mott transition from a conventional topological insulator to an edge Mott insulator before a transition to a bulk antiferromagnetic insulator. The intermediate bulk-topological and edge-Mott-insulator phase has a helical spin-liquid character with the protected time-reversal symmetry.