symmetric higher-order topological insulators*

Higher-order topological insulators in two spatial dimensions display fractional corner charges. While fractional charges in one dimension are known to be captured by a many-body bulk invariant, computed by the Resta formula, a many-body bulk invariant for higher-order topology and the corresponding fractional corner charges remains elusive despite several attempts. Inspired by recent work by Tada and Oshikawa, we present a well-defined many-body bulk invariant for C_n symmetric higher-order topological insulators, which is valid for both non-interacting and interacting systems. Instead of relating them to the bulk quadrupole moment, we show that in the presence of C_n rotational symmetry, this bulk invariant can be directly identified with quantized fractional corner charges. In particular, we prove that the corner charge is quantized as e/n with C_n symmetry, leading to a Z_n classification for higher-order topological insulators in two dimensions.