Coulomb impurities in two-dimensional topological insulators

Abstract

Introducing a powerful method, we obtain the exact solutions for a Coulomb impurity in two-dimensional infinite and finite topological insulators. The level order and zero-energy degeneracy of the spectra are found to be quite different between topological trivial and nontrivial phases. For quantum dots of topological insulator, the variation of the edge and Coulomb states with dot size, Coulomb potential, and magnetic field are clearly shown. It is found that for small dots the edge states can be strongly coupled with the Coulomb states and for large dots the edge states are insensitive to the Coulomb fields but sensitive to the magnetic fields.