Topological and trivial domain wall states in engineered atomic chains
In a recent article1, Huda et al. demonstrated tuneable topological domain wall states in the c(2 × 2) chlorinated Cu(100)2. Their system allows to experimentally tune the domain wall states using atom manipulation by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). They have realized topological domain wall states of two prototypical one-dimensional models such as trimer3 and coupled dimer chains4,5,6,7,8. However, they did not distinguish trivial domain wall states9 from topological ones in their models. As a result, all states of a specific domain wall are not topological but trivial. Here, we show why the specific domain wall states are trivial and how to make them topological. This topological consideration would provide more clear insight into future studies on topological domain wall states in artificial atomic chains.