Phase transitions of the dimerized Kane–Mele model with/without strong interaction

The dimerized Kane–Mele model with/without strong interaction is studied using analytical methods. The boundary of the topological phase transition of the model without strong interaction is obtained. Our results show that the occurrence of the transition only depends on dimerized parameter $\alpha$. From the one-particle spectrum, we obtain the completed phase diagram including the quantum spin Hall state and the topologically trivial insulator. Then, using different mean field methods, we investigate the Mott transition and the magnetic transition of the strongly correlated dimerized Kane–Mele model. In the region between the two transitions, the topological Mott insulator with characteristics of Mott insulators and topological phases may be the most interesting phase. In this work, the effects of hopping anisotropy and Hubbard interaction U on the boundaries of the two transitions are observed in detail. The completed phase diagram of the dimerized Kane–Mele–Hubbard model is also obtained in this work. Quantum fluctuations have extremely important influences on a quantum system. However, investigations are under the framework of mean field treatment in this work and the effects of fluctuations in this model will be discussed in the future. (paper)