Dynamics of impurity in the environment of Dirac fermions

Motivated by recent scanning tunneling microscopy experiments on surfaces of Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x'}$\cite{yazdanistm,gomesstm} and Bi$_2$Te$_3$,\cite{kaptunikstm,xuestm} we theoretically study the electronic structure of a 3-dimensional (3D) topological insulator in the presence of a local impurity or a domain wall on its surface using a 3D lattice model. While the local density of states (LDOS) oscillates significantly in space at energies above the bulk gap, the oscillation due...

It is shown that the Hamiltonian for a quantum magnetic impurity on the surface of a topological insulator can be mapped to the conventional pseudo-gap Anderson impurity model, albeit with the combinations of continuum states which hybridize with the impurity having more complex structure in the reciprocal and spin space. If the Fermi level is away from the Dirac point, the impurity is predicted to be fully screened at low enough temperatures, i.e., there are no residual degr...

We consider a linearly-dispersing quantum impurity interacting through a contact density-density term with a one-dimensional (1D) superfluid described by the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory. Using a linked cluster expansion we characterize the impurity dynamics by calculating approximate expressions for the single-particle Green's function and for the time evolution of the density profile. We show the existence of two different dynamical regimes: (i) a $\textit{quasiparticle...

Helical edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators show a gap in the density of states (DOS) and suppressed conductance in the presence of ordered magnetic impurities. Here we will consider the dynamical effects on the DOS and transmission when the magnetic impurities are driven periodically. Using the Floquet formalism and Green's functions, the system properties are studied as a function of the driving frequency and the potential energy contribution of the impuri...

We theoretically address the impact of a random distribution of non-magnetic impurities on the surface states formed at the interface between a trivial and a topological insulator. The interaction of electrons with the impurities is accounted for by a separable pseudo-potential method that allows us to obtain closed expressions for the density of states. Spectral properties of surface states are assessed by means of the Green's function averaged over disorder realizations. Fo...

Using a three-dimensional microscopic lattice model of a strong topological insulator (TI) we study potential impurities and vacancies in surface and subsurface positions. For all impurity locations we find impurity-induced resonance states with energy proportional to the inverse of the impurity strength, although the impurity strength needed for a low-energy resonance state increases with the depth of the impurity. For strong impurities and vacancies as deep as 15 layers int...

In the three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), the physics of doped semiconductors exists literally side-by-side with the physics of ultra-relativistic Dirac fermions. This unusual pairing creates a novel playground for studying the interplay between disorder and electronic transport. In this mini-review we focus on the disorder caused by the three-dimensionally distributed charged impurities that are ubiquitous in TIs, and we outline the effects it has on both the bulk...

In light of recent proposals to realize a topological superconductor on the surface of strong topological insulators, we study impurity and vortex scattering in two dimensional topological superconductivity. We develop a theory of quasiparticle interference in a model of the surface of a three dimensional strong topological insulator with a pairing term added. We consider a variety of different scatterers, including magnetic and nonmagnetic impurity as well as a local pairing...

We study the electron transport in a magnetically doped three dimensional topological insulator (TI) by taking the effects of impurity-impurity exchange interactions into account. The interactions between magnetic impurities give rise to the formation of {\it magnetic clusters} with temperature dependent mean sizes, randomly distributed on the surface of the TI. Instead of dealing with single magnetic impurities, we consider surface Dirac electrons to be scattered off magneti...

We consider the dynamics of an impurity atom immersed in an ideal Fermi gas at zero temperature. We focus on the coherent quantum evolution of the impurity following a quench to strong impurity-fermion interactions, where the interactions are assumed to be short range like in cold-atom experiments. To approximately model the many-body time evolution, we use a truncated basis method, where at most two particle-hole excitations of the Fermi sea are included. When the system is ...