Electro and magneto statics of topological insulators as modeled by planar, spherical and cylindrical $θ$ boundaries: Green function approach

Abstract

The Green function (GF) method is used to analyze the boundary effects produced by a Chern Simons (CS) extension to electrodynamics. We consider the electromagnetic field coupled to a $θ$ term that is piecewise constant in different regions of space, separated by a common interface $Σ$, the $θ$ boundary, model which we will refer to as $θ$ electrodynamics ($θ$ ED). This model provides a correct low energy effective action for describing topological insulators (TI). In this work we construct the static GF in $θ$ ED for different geometrical configurations of the $θ$ boundary, namely: planar, spherical and cylindrical $θ$ interfaces. Also we adapt the standard Green theorem to include the effects of the $θ$ boundary. These are the most important results of our work, since they allow to obtain the corresponding static electric and magnetic fields for arbitrary sources and arbitrary boundary conditions in the given geometries. Also, the method provides a well defined starting point for either analytical or numerical approximations in the cases where the exact analytical calculations are not possible. Explicit solutions for simple cases in each of the aforementioned geometries for $θ$ boundaries are provided. The adapted Green theorem is illustrated by studying the problem of a point like electric charge interacting with a planar TI with prescribed boundary conditions. Our generalization, when particularized to specific cases, is successfully compared with previously reported results, most of which have been obtained by using the methods of images.