Homotopy invariant in time-reversal and twofold rotation symmetric systems

Abstract

The primary goal of this paper is to study topological invariants in two dimensional twofold rotation and time-reversal symmetric spinful systems. In this paper, firstly we build a new homotopy invariant based on the lifting of the Wilson loop to the universal covering group of the special orthogonal group. Furthermore, we prove that the invariant we built agrees with the K theory invariant. We go beyond the previous understanding of the Wilson loop unwinding in more than two occupied bands by finding an obstruction of such unwinding. Then, within this formalism, we show two examples that have the same Wilson loop spectrum but belong to different topological classes. Finally, we present a tight binding model realizing the non-trivial phase.