Wannier charge center, spin resolved bulk polarization and corner modes in a strained quantum spin Hall insulator

Abstract: Topological invariants are a significant ingredient in the study of topological phases of matter that intertwines the supposedly contradicting concepts of bulk and boundary. The nature of the invariants differ depending on the dimension of the boundary at which the topological states manifest themselves. The primary motivation of this work is to study two distinct scenarios of topological phase, differing in the dimensionality of their boundary states and study the associated bulk topological invariants that characterize them. In this regard, we study the band engineered Kane Mele model which originally is a prototypical example of a system that hosts quantum spin Hall effect on a honeycomb lattice. Under a smooth band deformation caused by varying one of the nearest neighbor hopping amplitudes (say $t_1$) as compared to the other two (say $t$), we observe that the system transits from its first order topological insulating state (or quantum spin Hall state) to a second order topological insulating (SOTI) state via a gap closing transition. This transition occurs when the system crosses a particular threshold of the deformation parameter $t_1\mathbin{/}t$ (namely $t_1\mathbin{/}t=2$). We show the presence of edge and corner modes as a signature of first and second order topology respectively. Further, we observe the evolution of the Wannier charge center (WCC), a bulk property as a function of the deformation parameter ${t_1}\mathbin{/}{t}$. We also find that, while the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant successfully characterizes the QSH state, it cannot characterize higher order topology (second order here). The model being mirror invariant, we also calculate mirror winding number to show that it is rendered trivial in the SOTI phase as well, while being non-trivial in the QSH phase. Finally, spin resolved bulk polarization establishes the SOTI phase as obstructed atomic insulator.