Theory of inversion-Z_{4} protected topological chiral hinge states and its applications to layered antiferromagnets

Abstract

We study positions of chiral hinge states in higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) with inversion symmetry. First, we exhaust all possible configurations of the hinge states in the HOTIs in all type-I magnetic space groups with inversion symmetry by studying dependence of the sign of the surface Dirac mass on surface orientations. In particular, in the presence of glide symmetry, for particular surface orientations, the surface Dirac mass changes sign by changing the surface terminations. By applying this result to a layered antiferromagnet, we find a difference in the hinge states between the cases with an even and odd number of layers. In the case of an even number of layers, which does not preserve inversion symmetry, positions of hinge states are not inversion symmetric. Nonetheless, these inversion-asymmetric hinge states result from the bulk topology. We show that their inversion-asymmetric configurations are uniquely determined from the symmetries and the topological invariant.