Topological Edge States and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect from Umklapp Scattering

We study anisotropic lattice strips in the presence of a magnetic field in the quantum Hall effect regime. At specific magnetic fields, causing resonant umklapp scattering, the system is gapped in the bulk and supports chiral edge states in close analogy to topological insulators. In electron gases with stripes, these gaps result in plateaus for the Hall conductivity exactly at the known fillings n/m (both positive integers and m odd) for the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect. For double strips, we find topological phase transitions with phases that support midgap edge states with flat dispersion. The topological effects predicted here could be tested directly in optical lattices.