Noncommutative Kubo formula: Applications to transport in disordered topological insulators with and without magnetic fields

The noncommutative theory of charge transport in mesoscopic aperiodic systems under magnetic fields, developed by Bellissard, Shulz-Baldes and collaborators in the 90's, is complemented with a practical numerical implementation. The scheme, which is developed within a C*-algebraic framework, enables efficient evaluations of the finite-temperature noncommutative Kubo formula, with errors that vanish exponentially fast in the thermodynamic limit. Applications to a model of a two-dimensional quantum spin-Hall insulator are given. The conductivity tensor is mapped as a function of Fermi level, disorder strength, and temperature, and the phase diagram in the plane of Fermi level and disorder strength is quantitatively derived from the transport simulations. Simulations at finite magnetic field strength are also presented.