Collective Hall quantization in 3D Chern vector systems

Overview & Synopsis

Understanding the three-dimensional (3D) quantum Hall effect, characterized by a Chern vector rather than a single Chern number, has been a central pursuit in topological physics. While quantized Hall transport is established for the special case with one nonzero Chern component, recent realizations of more general Chern-vector states raise a fundamental question: how does such topology protect quantized transport? Here, we predict a distinct 3D quantized Hall effect protected by $\mathbf{C}=(0,m,n)$. For samples with dimensions $L_y$ and $L_z$, global topology enforces collective quantization of $mL_y+nL_z$, despite the fragility of individual edge modes to disorder. This reveals a novel transport regime in which robust quantization emerges as a holistic property of a unified chiral network,rather than of its constituent modes. Crucially, this collective response manifests as a quantized Hall conductance $G_{xy}=\pm(mL_y+nL_z)e^2/h$, with a distinctive dependence on both Chern-vector components and sample dimensions. We propose candidate materials to facilitate experimental observation.