Haldane model 2026-10-18
F. Duncan M. Haldane's 1988 tight-binding model adds complex second-neighbour hopping and opposite sublattice offsets to a honeycomb lattice. Directed phases break time-reversal symmetry while each primitive cell has zero net magnetic flux. Smaller loops can enclose magnetic flux; ordinary Bloch states remain available.[ref]
Model for a Quantum Hall Effect without Landau Levels: Condensed-Matter Realization of the Parity Anomaly by F. Duncan M. Haldane. Haldane (1988), pp. 2015–2016, Fig. 1 and Eq. (1)
Extend the nearest-neighbour model of graphene, ignoring physical spin and interactions. With bond length , , and ordered sublattice basis , chooseThe following Bloch Hamiltonian defines ; reversing directed second-neighbour hopping sends :The Pauli matrices act on sublattice amplitudes, as in sublattice pseudospin in graphene. The identity matrix term shifts both energy eigenvalues equally at each momentum; it changes neither the eigenvectors nor the direct separation . A genuine band insulator additionally needs . We use in the figures, within the original paper's sufficient nonoverlap restriction .[ref]
Model for a Quantum Hall Effect without Landau Levels: Condensed-Matter Realization of the Parity Anomaly by F. Duncan M. Haldane. Haldane (1988), p. 2016, immediately after Eq. (1): nonoverlapping bands
Nobel Prize in Physics in 2016 2026-10-18
One half went to David J. Thouless, and one quarter each to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz, for theoretical discoveries concerning topological phase transitions and topological quantum matter.[ref]
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 by Nobel Prize Outreach. Individual official summary: Thouless one half; Haldane and Kosterlitz one quarter each for topological phase transitions and phases of matter.