The Witten Index for 1D Supersymmetric Quantum Walks with Anisotropic Coins

Abstract

Chirally symmetric discrete-time quantum walks possess supersymmetry, and their Witten indices can be naturally defined. The Witten index gives a lower bound for the number of topologically protected bound states. The purpose of this paper is to give a complete classification of the Witten index associated with a one-dimensional split-step quantum walk. It turns out that the Witten index of this model exhibits striking similarity to the one associated with a Dirac particle in supersymmetric quantum mechanics.