Quantum Valley Hall Effect without Berry Curvature

Abstract

The quantum valley Hall effect (QVHE) is characterized by the valley Chern number (VCN) in a way that one-dimensional (1D) chiral metallic states are guaranteed to appear at the domain walls (DW) between two domains with opposite VCN for a given valley. Although in the case of QVHE, the total Berry curvature (BC) of the system is zero, the BC distributed locally around each valley makes the VCN well defined as long as intervalley scattering is negligible. Here, we propose a new type of valley-dependent topological phenomenon that occurs when the BC is strictly zero at each momentum. Such zero Berry curvature (ZBC) QVHE is characterized by the valley Euler number (VEN) which is computed by integrating the Euler curvature around a given valley in two-dimensional (2D) systems with space-time inversion symmetry. 1D helical metallic states can be topologically protected at the DW between two domains with the opposite VENs when the DW configuration preserves either the mirror symmetry with respect to the DW or the combination of the DW space-time inversion and chiral symmetries. We establish the fundamental origin of ZBC QVHE. Also, by combining tight-binding model study and first-principles calculations, we propose stacked hexagonal bilayer lattices including ℎ-BX (𝑋=As, P) and large-angle twisted bilayer graphenes as candidate systems with robust helical DW states protected by VEN.