Exact quantum geometry from sublattice symmetry: Closed-form solution of the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model

arXiv:2608.26099 · cond-mat.quant-gas, cond-mat.mes-hall, quant-ph · Submitted 2026-08-26 · Read on arXiv

cond-mat.quant-gas, cond-mat.mes-hall, quant-ph

Submitted: 2026-08-26

Updated: 2026-09-22

Comments: 10 + 1 + 18 pages, 2 + 0 + 4 figures. Comments are welcome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Quantum geometry has emerged as a guiding principle across atomic and condensed-matter physics, shaping the topological responses of Bloch bands and the stability of the correlated phases they host.

Terminology

Abstract

Quantum geometry has emerged as a guiding principle across atomic and condensed-matter physics, shaping the topological responses of Bloch bands and the stability of the correlated phases they host. Sublattice symmetry, though common among bipartite lattice models, has not yet been exploited to obtain closed-form quantum geometry in multiband systems. For this purpose, we derive a general expression for the QGT of sublattice-symmetric systems in terms of contributions from the individual sublattice sectors, and show that this symmetry renders the Bloch Hamiltonian of a paradigmatic four-band model, the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model, anti-block-diagonal, analytically yielding the spectrum, eigenstates, and full quantum geometric tensor (QGT), including the Berry curvature and quantum metric, for all four bands. The model, describing charged particles on a two-dimensional square lattice subjected to a uniform magnetic field, has recently been realized experimentally with ultracold atoms, photons, and superconducting circuits. Finally, we evaluate fractional-Chern-insulator stability criteria analytically and quantify the lowest band of the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model to be a nearly ideal Chern band. Our approach opens a route for studying also the quantum geometry of other sublattice-symmetric multiband systems.

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