Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Chern Insulators*

We investigate the non-equilibrium properties of Chern insulators following a quantum quench between topological and non-topological phases. We show that this yields an excited state for which the Chern number is preserved under unitary evolution [1]. However, this does not imply the preservation of other physical observables, such as the Hall response [2]. We discuss the time scale at which the Chern number preservation ultimately breaks down.

[1] Caio, Cooper, Bhaseen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 236403 (2015)
[2] Caio, Cooper, Bhaseen, Phys. Rev. B 94, 155104 (2016)