Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-342/3/d/solution

Two local gapped Hamiltonians are topologically equivalent when a continuous path of local Hamiltonians joins them without closing the bulk gap. The Bogoliubov--de Gennes Hamiltonian has energies
For , this gap can close only at
The whole region is connected and gapped, so its parameters can be continuously deformed to . Therefore
Writing
shows the topological distinction. As crosses the Brillouin zone, traces an ellipse. It encloses the origin once when , giving nonzero winding number of a one-dimensional Bogoliubov--de Gennes Hamiltonian. For it does not enclose the origin and has winding zero. Changing this integer requires the ellipse to pass through the origin, exactly the bulk gap closing.

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