Effects of off-diagonal disorder on a four-dimensional topological insulator.

While the effects of off-diagonal disorder have been extensively studied in low-dimensional topological systems, such research remains insufficient in four-dimensional (4D) topological systems. In this work, we investigate the effect of off-diagonal disorders on a 4D topological insulator. We find that off-diagonal disorder can induce a 4D topological Anderson insulator (TAI) phase. This differs from previous finding in two-dimensional topological insulators, where off-diagonal disorder fails to induce the TAI phase. Specifically, we consider 16 different configurations of disorder and identify two distinct types based on their effect on the system. Furthermore, using the self-consistent Born approximation, we elucidate the unique role of off-diagonal disorder in these phase transitions compared to the diagonal Anderson disorder.