Symmetry-enforced quantum spin Hall insulators in $\pi$-flux models

Abstract

We prove a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem for the quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) in two-dimensional $\pi$-flux models. In the presence of time reversal, $U(1)$ charge conservation and magnetic translation (with $\pi$-flux per unit cell) symmetries, if a generic interacting Hamiltonian has a unique gapped symmetric ground state at half filling (i.e. an odd number of electrons per unit cell), it can only be a QSH insulator. In other words, a trivial Mott insulator is forbidden by symmetries at half filling. We further show that such a symmetry-enforced QSHE can be realized in cold atoms, by shaking an optical lattice and applying a time-dependent Zeeman field.