Crossdimensional universality classes in static and periodically driven Kitaev models

Abstract

The Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice is a paradigmatic system known to host a wealth of nontrivial topological phases and Majorana edge modes. In the static case, the Majorana edge modes are nondispersive. When the system is periodically driven in time, such edge modes can disperse and become chiral. We obtain the full phase diagram of the driven model as a function of the coupling and the driving period. We characterize the quantum criticality of the different topological phase transitions in both the static and driven model via the notions of Majorana-Wannier state correlation functions and momentum-dependent fidelity susceptibilities. We show that the system hosts crossdimensional universality classes: although the static Kitaev model is defined on a two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb lattice, its criticality falls into the universality class of one-dimensional (1D) linear Dirac models. For the periodically driven Kitaev model, in addition to the universality class of prototype 2D linear Dirac models, an additional 1D nodal loop type of criticality exists owing to emergent time-reversal and mirror symmetries, indicating the possibility of engineering multiple universality classes by periodic driving. The manipulation of time-reversal symmetry allows the periodic driving to control the chirality of the Majorana edge states.