Recognition: no theorem link
Recent progress on disorder-induced topological phases
Pith reviewed 2026-05-16 13:05 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
Disorder can induce topological phases from a clean-limit trivial phase.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Disorders can induce topological phases such as topological Anderson insulators from a topologically trivial phase in the clean limit. These induced states remain robust against certain disorders. The review summarizes their topological characterizations and experimental realizations, then extends the discussion to quasiperiodic and non-Hermitian systems with unique localization phenomena, and to dynamical and many-body systems including topological Anderson-Thouless pumps, disordered correlated topological insulators, and average-symmetry protected topological orders.
What carries the argument
Topological Anderson insulators (TAIs), topological states induced by random disorders in otherwise trivial clean systems.
Load-bearing premise
The cited theoretical models and experimental realizations correctly demonstrate disorder-induced topological characters without major overlooked competing effects or mischaracterizations.
What would settle it
A controlled experiment or numerical simulation in which increasing disorder strength fails to produce the predicted topological invariants or edge states in a system expected to form a topological Anderson insulator.
Figures
read the original abstract
Topological states of matter in disordered systems without translation symmetry have attracted great interest in recent years. These states with topological characters are not only robust against certain disorders, but also can be counterintuitively induced by disorders from a topologically trivial phase in the clean limit. In this review, we summarize the current theoretical and experimental progress on disorder-induced topological phases in both condensed-matter and artificial systems. We first introduce the topological Anderson insulators (TAIs) induced by random disorders and their topological characterizations and experimental realizations. We then discuss various extensions of TAIs with unique localization phenomena in quasiperiodic and non-Hermitian systems. We also review the theoretical and experimental studies on the disorder-induced topology in dynamical and many-body systems, including topological Anderson-Thouless pumps, disordered correlated topological insulators and average-symmetry protected topological orders acting as interacting TAI phases. Finally, we conclude the review by highlighting potential directions for future explorations.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript is a review summarizing theoretical and experimental progress on disorder-induced topological phases. It begins with topological Anderson insulators (TAIs) induced by random disorders, including their topological characterizations and experimental realizations, then covers extensions to quasiperiodic and non-Hermitian systems, and concludes with disorder-induced topology in dynamical and many-body systems such as topological Anderson-Thouless pumps, disordered correlated topological insulators, and average-symmetry protected topological orders.
Significance. If the cited literature is represented accurately, the review is significant as a consolidation of work showing that disorder can induce topological character from a clean-limit trivial phase. It provides a broad, accessible overview across condensed-matter and artificial systems, which is useful for researchers entering or working in this area. The manuscript draws directly from external references without internal derivations or new claims.
minor comments (2)
- [Abstract] The abstract could more explicitly list the distinct classes of systems (quasiperiodic, non-Hermitian, dynamical, interacting) covered after the TAI introduction to improve reader orientation.
- Section headings and subheadings would benefit from consistent numbering or clearer hierarchical formatting to help readers navigate the progression from TAIs to extensions.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for their positive assessment of our manuscript as a useful consolidation of progress on disorder-induced topological phases. We appreciate the recommendation for minor revision and the recognition of its broad overview across condensed-matter and artificial systems. No major comments were provided in the report, so we have no specific points to address at this time. We remain ready to incorporate any minor editorial suggestions or additional feedback from the editor.
Circularity Check
Review paper summarizes external literature; no internal derivation chain present
full rationale
This is a review article that compiles and summarizes results from cited external literature on topological Anderson insulators and related phenomena in disordered, quasiperiodic, non-Hermitian, dynamical, and interacting systems. The abstract and structure present no original derivations, equations, or first-principles predictions that could reduce to self-referential inputs, fitted parameters renamed as predictions, or self-citation chains. All load-bearing claims are explicitly attributed to prior independent works, satisfying the guideline that externally cited results (when not overlapping in a load-bearing unverified way) constitute real evidence rather than circularity. No self-definitional steps, ansatz smuggling, or renaming of known results occur within the manuscript itself.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
Forward citations
Cited by 1 Pith paper
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Finite-temperature topological transitions in the presence of quenched uncorrelated disorder
Weak uncorrelated quenched disorder drives the topological transition of the 3D Z2 gauge model into a new universality class, consistent with the Harris criterion.
Reference graph
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The valueγ= 1 corresponds to a topological phase, whileγ= 0 for a trivial phase
Phase diagram The topological nature of this 1D interacting system can be captured by a many-body Berry phase quantized in units ofπunder twisted PBCs [273]: γ= 1 π I dθ⟨Ψ g(θ)|i∂ θ |Ψg(θ)⟩mod 2,(27) where|Ψ g(θ)⟩denotes the half-filled many-body ground state in the presence of a twist angleθ. The valueγ= 1 corresponds to a topological phase, whileγ= 0 fo...
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Two dimensions The disorder effect on interacting topological insula- tors of 2D fermions has been investigated in Ref. [283]. Although the absence of disorder-induced TAIs, it was found that the topological phases are stable against dis- orders even when interactions are included. In the spin- ful Harper-Hofstadter-Hatsugai model on a 2D square lattice [...
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Proposal with Rydberg atom arrays In Ref. [210], the authors studied topological phases in a 1D amorphous Rydberg atom chain with random atom configurations. In the single-particle level, the topologi- cal amorphous insulators induced by the structural dis- order was found. Moreover, a symmetry-protected topo- logical phase of interacting bosons in this d...
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relative to the magnetic field, the hopping within each sublat- tice is suppressed and the chiral symmetry is achieved. The structural disorder is introduced by displacing atoms from their ordered positions viaz 2i−1 →i−1 +δz i and z2i →i−1 +R z +δz i, with eachδz i being uniformly drawn from [−W/2, W/2] and disorder strengthW. When there is only one exci...
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