Augmentation and Bulk Edge Correspondence for one dimensional aperiodic tight binding operators

We consider a particular class of 1D aperiodic models with the aim to understand how their internal degrees of freedom contribute to their topological invariants and the possible relations (correspondences) among them. In order to handle models with finite local complexity we introduce the principle of augmentation. This allows us to relate the values of the Integrated Density of States at gap energies for the bulk system to spectral flows. We consider two different augmentations. The first is based on the mapping torus construction. It leads to an alternative proof of the result that the gap labelling group of Bellissard coincides with that of Johnson-Moser. It furthermore allows for an interpretation of the spectral flow via boundary forces. The second augmentation applies to models obtained by the cut and project method where we find for 2-cut models two different spectral flows, one attached to the edge modes and related to the phason motion whereas the other is an augmented bulk invariant. Our approach is based on the well-established $C^*$-algebraic approach to solid state physics and the description of topological invariants by $K$-theory and cyclic cocycles. We also present numerical simulations to illustrate our theorems.

💡 Research Summary

The paper investigates a class of one‑dimensional aperiodic tight‑binding models with the goal of clarifying how internal degrees of freedom contribute to topological invariants and how these invariants are related through bulk‑edge correspondences. The authors introduce the principle of “augmentation,” which enlarges the family of Hamiltonians by interpolating the discontinuous on‑site potential. Two distinct augmentations are studied.

The first augmentation smooths the step‑like potential Vφ(n) by adding a continuous parameter t∈