Construction and properties of a topological index for periodically driven time-reversal invariant 2D crystals

Abstract

We present mathematical details of the construction of a topological invariant for periodically driven two-dimensional lattice systems with time-reversal symmetry and quasienergy gaps, which was proposed recently by some of us. The invariant is represented by a gap-dependent $\,\mathbb Z_2$-valued index that is simply related to the Kane-Mele invariants of quasienergy bands but contains an extra information. As a byproduct, we prove new expressions for the two-dimensional Kane-Mele invariant relating the latter to Wess-Zumino amplitudes and the boundary gauge anomaly.