
B. Andrei Bernevig
I am interested in several areas of theoretical condensed matter physics.
I currently work on high-temperature superconductivity in the iron-based superconductors. These materials, discovered a year and a half ago, have broken the monopoly of cuprates on high-temperature superconductors. Their pairing symmetry, pairing mechanism, nature of local VS itinerant electrons, and other overwhelming parts of their physics are not known. Along with my collaborators, I have predicted the pairing symmetry in these materials to be a novel-type of s-wave. Along with my post-doc , we have developed a functional renormalization group treatment of the asymmetry of the s-wave gap predicted in the iron-based superconductors.
I also actively work in the field of topological phases and Fractional Quantum Hall effect. These phases exhibit new topological excitations, including exotic non-abelian ones which could potentially be used as qubits of a quantum computer protected from local perturbations. I have worked on a series of FQH states which are described by a remarkable series of polynomials known in mathematics as Jack polynomials. I am also interested in the entanglement spectrum of these systems, and in devising methods to indentify topological order directly from the ground-state wavefunction. I am also interested in any possible classification of topological order in gapless systems.
I also have other interests in the field of topological insulators, in which I predicted the first material to exhibit the Quantum Spin Hall effect. I am interested in how the interactions and disorder modify the nature of edge states. I am also interested in the physics of systems with spin-orbit coupling (insulators, semiconductors and metals), and in new symmetries and effects (such as persistent spin density helixes) existent in these systems.
- J. D. Koralek, C. P. Weber, J. Orenstein, B. A. Bernevig, Shoucheng Zhang, S. Mack & D. D. Awschalom
Emergence of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells
Nature, 458, 610-613 (2009) - B. Andrei Bernevig, Taylor L. Hughes, Shou-Cheng Zhang
Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
Science, 314, 1757 (2006) - B. Andrei Bernevig and F.D.M. Haldane
Fractional Quantum Hall Effect and Jack Polynomials
Phys. Rev. Lett 100, 246802 (2008) - B. A. Bernevig, J. Orenstein, and S.-C. Zhang
Exact SU(2) Symmetry and Persistent Spin Helix in a Spin-Orbit Coupled System
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 236601 (2006) - B. A. Bernevig and S.-C. Zhang
Quantum Spin Hall Effect
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 106802 (2006) - Kangjun Seo, B. Andrei Bernevig, Jiangping Hu
Pairing Symmetry in a Two-Orbital Exchange Coupling Model of Oxypnictides Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 206404 (2008) - B. A. Bernevig, D. Giuliano, and R. B. Laughlin Spinon Attraction in Spin- 1/2 Antiferromagnetic Chains
Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3392-3395 (2001) - M. Parish, Jiangping Hu, B. Andrei Bernevig
Experimental Consequences of the S-wave Superconductivity in the Iron-Pnictides
Phys. Rev. B 78, 144514 (2008)