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Updated: May 27, 2026

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Chiral topological phases and fractional domain wall excitations in one-dimensional chains and wires
Jukka I Väyrynen1, Teemu Ojanen
1Low Temperature Laboratory, Aalto University, Aalto, Finland.
Abstract:
According to the general classification of topological insulators, there exist one-dimensional chirally (sublattice) symmetric systems that can support any number of topological phases. We introduce a zigzag fermion chain with spin-orbit coupling in magnetic field and identify three distinct topological phases. Zero-mode excitations, localized at the phase boundaries, are fractionalized: two of the phase boundaries support ±e/2 charge states while one of the boundaries support ±e and neutral excitations. In addition, a finite chain exhibits ±e/2 edge states for two of the three phases. We explain how the studied system generalizes the Peierls-distorted polyacetylene model and discuss possible realizations in atomic chains and quantum spin Hall wires.
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