Quantum Spin Hall Effect as $\mathbb{Z}_2$ Global Gauge Anomaly

Abstract

We study the relation between the quantum spin Hall effect(QSHE) and the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ global gauge anomaly and discover that there exists an one-to-one correspondence between them. By constructing a two dimensional non-abelian gauge theory whose non-abelian gauge field is the Berry connection induced by the Bloch wave function of the quantum spin Hall system, we prove that if the quantum spin Hall system is topologically nontrivial, the corresponding 2D gauge theory has a global gauge anomaly. We further generalize our discussion of the zero modes of the Dirac operator which play a central role in our analysis. We find that the classical "spin" Hall effect also contains a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological invariant which is not noticed before as far as we know.