Edge modes of topological Mott insulators and deconfined quantum critical points

Topology and anomalies lead to edge modes that can interact with critical bulk fluctuations. To study this setup, pertaining to boundary criticality, we consider a model exhibiting a deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) between a dynamically generated quantum spin Hall state (i.e.a topological Mott insulator) and an s-wave superconductor. For the topological Mott insulator, the bulk Goldstone modes are shown to be irrelevant at the helical Luttinger liquid fixed points. The deconfined quantum critical point is an instance of an emergent anomaly, and we observe a sharp localized edge state at this point. The sharpness of the edge mode is consistent with an ordinary phase in which electronic edge modes decouple from critical edge bosonic fluctuations. At the DQCP, the scaling dimension of the edge electron shows a jump, a feature argued to be a signature of the emergent anomaly. Our results are based on large-scale auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations.We also carry out calculations for the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model to confirm spectral features of the ordinary and extraordinary-log phases in the vicinity of the bulk critical point.