Topological Criticality in the Chiral-Symmetric AIII Class at Strong Disorder

Abstract: The chiral AIII symmetry class in the periodic table of topological insulators contains topological phases classified by a winding number $\nu$ for each odd space-dimension. An open problem for this class is the characterization of the phases and phase-boundaries in the presence of strong disorder. In this work, we derive a covariant real-space formula for $\nu$ and, using an explicit 1-dimensional disordered topological model, we show that $\nu$ remains quantized and non-fluctuating when disorder is turned on, even though the bulk energy-spectrum is completely localized. Furthermore, $\nu$ remains robust even after the insulating gap is filled with localized states, but when the disorder is increased even further, an abrupt change of $\nu$ to a trivial value is observed. Using exact analytic calculations, we show that this marks a critical point where the localization length diverges. As such, in the presence of disorder, the AIII class displays a markedly different physics from everything known to date, with robust invariants being carried entirely by localized states and bulk extended states emerging from an absolutely localized spectrum. Detailed maps and a clear physical description of the phases and phase boundaries are presented based on numerical and exact analytic calculations.