Bulk topological invariants in noninteracting point group symmetric insulators

Abstract

We survey various quantized bulk physical observables in two-and three-dimensional topological band insulators invariant under translational symmetry and crystallographic point group symmetries (PGS). In two-dimensional insulators, we show that (i) the Chern number of a C-n-invariant insulator can be determined, up to a multiple of n, by evaluating the eigenvalues of symmetry operators at high-symmetry points in the Brillouin zone; (ii) the Chern number of a C-n-invariant insulator is also determined, up to a multiple of n, by the C-n eigenvalue of the Slater determinant of a noninteracting many-body system; and (iii) the Chern number vanishes in insulators with dihedral point groups D-n, and the quantized electric polarization is a topological invariant for these insulators. In three-dimensional insulators, we show that (i) only insulators with point groups C-n, C-nh, and S-n PGS can have nonzero 3D quantum Hall coefficient and (ii) only insulators with improper rotation symmetries can have quantized magnetoelectric polarization P-3 in the term P3E center dot B, the axion term in the electrodynamics of the insulator (medium).