Backscattering in a 2D topological insulator and conductivity of a 2D strip

A strip of the 2D HgTe topological insulator is studied. The same-spin edge states in an ideal system propagate in opposite directions on different sides of the strip and do not mix by tunneling. Impurities, edge irregularities, and phonons produce transitions between the contra- propagating edge states on different edges. This backscattering determines the conductivity of an infinitely long strip. The conductivity at finite temperature is determined in the framework of the kinetic equation. It is found that the conductivity exponentially grows with the strip width. In the same approximation the non-local resistance coefficients of a 4-terminal strip are found.