• Accepted Paper

Step-edge anomaly in topological metals

O. Schweizer, V. Gali, A. Y. Chaou, G. Lemut, P. W. Brouwer, and M. Breitkreiz

Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 16 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3p2x-yjyd

Abstract

Bulk–boundary correspondence guarantees the presence of robust, anomalous states on the boundary of topological matter. The edges of a two-dimensional Chern insulator harbor one-dimensional chiral states, which have a conductance n e^2/h, where n is an integer that is solely determined by the bulk. In this work we show that step edges on the surface of three-dimensional topological metals have a robust conductance K e^2/h, where K is also fixed by the bulk and assumes non-integer values. We explain this prediction on the basis of the topology of gapless systems, exemplify it on a lattice model, and connect to recent experimental observations of enhanced density of states at step-edges in topological metals.

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