Topological response of gapped fermions to a $\text{U}(1)$ Gauge field

Understand

We present a detailed path integral derivation of the topological response of gapped free fermions, in $2+1$ dimensions, to an external $\text{U}(1)$ Gauge field.

• The well-known Hall response is obtained by identifying the Chern-Simons term in the effective action with the correct coefficient.
• We extend the result to $2d+1$ dimensions in which the response is associated to a Chern-Simons term with a coefficient related to a characteristic class coming from topological band theory.
• We comment on the bulk-to-boundary principle which arises naturally when one considers the theory on a manifold with boundary.