Notes on topological insulators

Abstract

This paper is a survey of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-valued invariant of topological insulators used in condensed matter physics. The $\mathbb{Z}$-valued topological invariant, which was originally called the TKNN invariant in physics, has now been fully understood as the first Chern number. The $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant is more mysterious, we will explain its equivalent descriptions from different points of view and provide the relations between them. These invariants provide the classification of topological insulators with different symmetries in which K-theory plays an important role. Moreover, we establish that both invariants are realizations of index theorems which can also be understood in terms of condensed matter physics.