In this section
@article{Gunawardana:2026:1361-648x/ae6e11,
author = {Gunawardana, TM and Schindler, F and Turner, AM and Barnett, R},
doi = {1361-648x/ae6e11},
journal = {Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter},
title = {Microscopic theory of Chern polarization via crystalline defect charge},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/ae6e11},
volume = {38},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - The modern theory of polarization does not apply in its original form to systems with non-trivial band topology. Chern insulators are one such example. Defining polarization for them is complicated because they are insulating in the bulk but exhibit metallic edge states. Wannier functions formed a key ingredient of the original modern theory of polarization, but it has been considered that these cannot be applied to Chern insulators since they are no longer exponentially localized and the Wannier center, obtained from the Zak phase, is no longer gauge invariant. In this article, we provide an unambiguous definition of absolute polarization for a Chern insulator in terms of the Zak phase. We obtain our expression by studying the non-quantized fractional charge bound to lattice dislocations. Our expression can be computed directly from bulk quantities and makes no assumption on the edge state filling. It is fully consistent with previous results on the quantized charge bound to dislocations in the presence of crystalline symmetry. At the same time, our result is more general since it also applies to Chern insulators which do not have crystalline symmetries other than translations.
AU - Gunawardana,TM
AU - Schindler,F
AU - Turner,AM
AU - Barnett,R
DO - 1361-648x/ae6e11
PY - 2026///
SN - 0953-8984
TI - Microscopic theory of Chern polarization via crystalline defect charge
T2 - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/ae6e11
UR - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/ae6e11
VL - 38
ER -
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