On the C*-algebraic approach to topological phases for insulators

The notion of a topological phase of an insulator is based on the concept of homotopy between Hamiltonians. It therefore depends on the choice of a topological space to which the Hamiltonians belong. We advocate that this space should be the $C^*$-algebra of observables. We relate the symmetries of insulators to graded real structures on the observable algebra and classify the topological phases using van Daele's formulation of $K$-theory. This is related but not identical to Thiang's recent approach to classify topological phases by $K$-groups in Karoubi's formulation.