Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in disordered two-dimensional topological   insulators
  The disorder-driven metal-insulator transition in the quantum spin Hall systems is studied by scaling analysis of the Thouless conductance $g$. Below a critical disorder strength, the conductance is independent of the sample size $M$, an indication of critically delocalized electron states. The calculated beta function $\beta=d\ln g/d\ln M$ indicates that the metal-insulator transition is Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) type, which is characterized by bounding and unbounding of vortex-antivortex pairs of the local currents. The KT like metal-insulator transition is a basic characteristic of the quantum spin Hall state, being independent of the time-reversal symmetry. 
Zhong Xu, L. Sheng, R. Shen, Baigeng Wang, and D. Y. Xing
cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.str-el