Recently, it was realized that quantum states of matter can be classified as long-range entangled (LRE) states (i.e. with non-trivial topological order) and short-range entangled (SRE) states (\ie with trivial topological order). We can use group cohomology class ${\cal H}^d(SG,R/Z)$ to systematically describe the SRE states with a symmetry $SG$ [referred as symmetry-protected trivial (SPT) or symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states] in $d$-dimensional space-time. In this paper, we study the physical properties of those SPT states, such as the fractionalization of the quantum numbers of the global symmetry on some designed point defects, and the appearance of fractionalized SPT states on some designed defect lines/membranes. Those physical properties are SPT invariants of the SPT states which allow us to experimentally or numerically detect those SPT states, i.e. to measure the elements in ${\cal H}^d(G, R/Z)$ that label different SPT states. For example, 2+1D bosonic SPT states with $Z_n$ symmetry are classified by a $Z_n$ integer $m \in {\cal H}^3(Z_n, R/Z)=Z_n$. We find that $n$ identical monodromy defects, in a $Z_n$ SPT state labeled by $m$, carry a total $Z_n$-charge $2m$ (which is not a multiple of $n$ in general).
It has recently been demonstrated that protected supersymmetry emerges on the boundaries of one-dimensional intrinsically fermionic symmetry protected trivial (SPT) phases. Here we investigate the boundary supersymmetry of one-dimensional fermionic phases beyond SPT phases. Using the connection between Majorana edge modes and real supercharges, we compute, in terms of the bulk phase invariants, the number of protected boundary supercharges.
In two-dimensional topological phases, quasiparticle excitations can carry fractional symmetry quantum numbers. We generalize this notion of symmetry fractionalization to three-dimensional topological phases, in particular to loop excitations, and propose a partial classification for symmetry-enriched $\mathbb{Z}_2$ toric code phase. We apply the results to the classification of fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases in three dimensions.
It has been proposed recently that interacting Symmetry Protected Topological (SPT) phases can be classified using cobordism theory. We test this proposal in the case of fermionic SPT phases with Z/2 symmetry, where Z/2 is either time-reversal or an internal symmetry. We find that cobordism classification correctly describes all known fermionic SPT phases in space dimension less than or equal to 3 and also predicts that all such phases can be realized by free fermions. In higher dimensions we predict the existence of inherently interacting fermionic SPT phases.
Recently, it has been found that there exist symmetry-protected topological phases of fermions, which have no realizations in non-interacting fermionic systems or bosonic models. We study the edge states of such an intrinsically interacting fermionic SPT phase in two spatial dimensions, protected by $\mathbb{Z}_4\times\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ symmetry. We model the edge Hilbert space by replacing the internal $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry with a spatial translation symmetry, and design an exactly solvable Hamiltonian for the edge model. We show that at low-energy the edge can be described by a two-component …
Abelian Chern-Simons theory, characterized by the so-called $K$ matrix, has been quite successful in characterizing and classifying Abelian fractional quantum hall effect (FQHE) as well as symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases, especially for bosonic SPT phases. However, there are still some puzzles in dealing with fermionic SPT(fSPT) phases. In this paper, we utilize the Abelian Chern-Simons theory to study the fSPT phases protected by arbitrary Abelian total symmetry $G_f$. Comparing to the bosonic SPT phases, fSPT phases with Abelian total symmetry $G_f$ has three new features: (1) it…
Quantum anomalies, breakdown of classical symmetries by quantum effects, provide a sharp definition of symmetry protected topological phases. In particular, they can diagnose interaction effects on the non-interacting classification of fermionic symmetry protected topological phases. In this paper, we identify quantum anomalies in two kinds of (3+1)-dimensional fermionic symmetry protected topological phases: (i) topological insulators protected by CP (charge conjugation $\times$ reflection) and electromagnetic $\mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetries, and (ii) topological superconductors protected by refle…
We use higher dimensional bosonization and fermion decoration to construct exactly soluble interacting fermion models to realize fermionic symmetry protected trivial (SPT) orders (which are also known as symmetry protected topological orders) in any dimensions and for generic fermion symmetries $G_f$, which can be a non-trivial $Z_2^f$ extension (where $Z_2^f$ is the fermion-number-parity symmetry). This generalizes the previous results from group superconhomology of Gu and Wen (arXiv:1201.2648), where $G_f$ is assumed to be a trivial $Z_2^f$ extension. We find that the SPT phases from fermion…
Matrix Product States (MPSs) provide a powerful framework to study and classify gapped quantum phases --symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in particular--defined in one dimensional lattices. On the other hand, it is natural to expect that gapped quantum phases in the limit of zero correlation length are described by topological quantum field theories (TFTs or TQFTs). In this paper, for (1+1)-dimensional bosonic SPT phases protected by symmetry $G$, we bridge their descriptions in terms of MPSs, and those in terms of $G$-equivariant TFTs. In particular, for various topological invarian…
Applying the results of Ref.[1], we carry out the non-abelian bosonization for a class of free fermion symmetry-protected topological states (SPTs). The resulting boson theories are non-linear sigma models with topological $θ$ term, thus unifying the field theory description of the (free) fermionic and bosonic SPTs. Tuning $θ$ from $0$ to $2π$ triggers the topological trivial to non-trivial phase transitions. In addition, applying the same idea to the symmetry-protected critical spin liquids, we obtain the NL$\s$ models for spin SPTs living in one spatial dimension higher.
We propose the definitions of many-body topological invariants to detect symmetry-protected topological phases protected by point group symmetry, using partial point group transformations on a given short-range entangled quantum ground state. Partial point group transformations $g_D$ are defined by point group transformations restricted to a spatial subregion $D$, which is closed under the point group transformations and sufficiently larger than the bulk correlation length $ξ$. By analytical and numerical calculations,we find that the ground state expectation value of the partial point group t…
Strong interactions can give rise to new fermionic symmetry protected topological phases which have no analogs in free fermion systems. As an example, we have systematically studied a spinless fermion model with $U(1)$ charge conservation and time reversal symmetry on a three-leg ladder using density-matrix renormalization group. In the non-interacting limit, there are no topological phases. Turning on interactions, we found two gapped phases. One is trivial and is adiabatically connected to a band insulator, while another one is a nontrivial symmetry protected topological phase resulting from…
We propose a simple theoretical construction of certain short-range entangled phases of interacting fermions, by putting the bound states of three fermions (which we refer to as clustons) into topological bands. We give examples in two and three dimensions, and show that they are distinct from any free fermion state. We further argue that these states can be viewed as combinations of certain free fermion topological states and bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states. This provides a conceptually simple understanding of various SPT phases, and the possibility of realizing them in co…
The fermionic Shastry-Sutherland model has a rich phase diagram, including phases with massless Dirac fermions, a quadratic band crossing point, and a pseudospin-1 Weyl fermion. Berry phases defined by the one-dimensional momentum as a parameter are quantized into 0 or pi due to the inversion symmetry combined with the time reversal, or existence of the glide plane, which also protects the massless Dirac cones with continuous parameters. This is the symmetry protected Z2 quantization. We have further demonstrated the Z2 Berry phases generically determine the existence of edge states in various…
The non-regularizability of free fermion field theories, which is the root of various quantum anomalies, plays a central role in particle physics and modern condensed matter physics. In this paper, we generalize the Nielsen-Ninomiya theorem to all minimal nodal free fermion field theories protected by the time reversal, charge conservation, and charge conjugation symmetries. We prove that these massless field theories cannot be regularized on a lattice.
We study the topological properties of an antiferromagnetic phase with reflection symmetry in three-dimensional heavy-fermion systems. We here propose a reflection-symmetric topological state in the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic phase and demonstrate how the paramagnetic phase changes into the antiferromagnetic topological phase of f -electron materials such as SmB6.
The study of continuous phase transitions triggered by spontaneous symmetry breaking has brought revolutionary ideas to physics. Recently, through the discovery of symmetry protected topological phases, it is realized that continuous quantum phase transition can also occur between states with the same symmetry but different topology. Here we study a specific class of such phase transitions in 1+1 dimensions -- the phase transition between bosonic topological phases protected by $Z_n\times Z_n$. We find in all cases the critical point possesses two gap opening relevant operators: one leads to a…
The construction and classification of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting bosonic and fermionic systems have been intensively studied in the past few years. Very recently, a complete classification and construction of space group SPT phases were also proposed for interacting bosonic systems. In this paper, we attempt to generalize this classification and construction scheme systematically into interacting fermion systems. In particular, we construct and classify point group SPT phases for 2D interacting fermion systems via lower-dimensional block-state decorations. We d…
In this paper we focus on the interplay between geometry defects and topological properties in bosonic symmetry protected topological(SPT) phases. We start from eight copies of 3D time-reversal($\mathcal{T}$) invariant topological superconductors(TSC) on a crystal lattice. We melt the lattice by condensation of disclinations and therefore restore the rotation symmetry. Such disclination condensation procedure confines the fermion and afterwards turns the system into a 3D boson topological liquid crystal(TCL). The low energy effective theory of this crystalline-liquid transition contains a topo…
In an earlier work we developed a holographic theory for the phase transition between bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states. This paper is a continuation of it. Here we present the holographic theory for fermionic SPT phase transitions. We show that in any dimension $ d $, the critical states of fermionic SPT phase transitions has an emergent $Z_2^T$ symmetry and can be realized on the boundary of a $ d+1 $-dimensional bulk SPT with an extra $Z_2^T$ symmetry.
We study classification of interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases with both rotation symmetry and Abelian internal symmetries in one, two, and three dimensions. By working out this classification, on the one hand, we demonstrate the recently proposed correspondence principle between crystalline topological phases and those with internal symmetries through explicit block-state constructions. We find that for the precise correspondence to hold it is necessary to change the central extension structure of the symmetry group by the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ fermion parity. On the ot…
Higher-order topological insulators have a modified bulk-boundary correspondence compared to other topological phases: instead of gapless edge or surface states, they have gapped edges and surfaces, but protected modes at corners or hinges. Here, we explore symmetry protected topological phases in strongly interacting many-body systems with this generalized bulk-boundary correspondence. We introduce several exactly solvable bosonic lattice models as candidates for interacting higher order symmetry protected topological (HOSPT) phases protected by spatial symmetries, and develop a topological f…
We construct a series of bosonic symmetry protected topological (BSPT) states beyond group cohomology classification using "decorated defects" approach. This construction is based on topological defects of ordinary Landau order parameters, decorated with the bosonic short range entangled (BSRE) states in $(4k+3)d$ and $(4k+5)d$ space-time (with $k$ being nonnegative integers), which do not need any symmetry. This approach not only gives these BSPT states an intuitive physical picture, it also allows us to derive the effective field theory for all these BSPT states beyond group cohomology.
We study two-dimensional bosonic symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases which are protected by reflection symmetry and local symmetry [$Z_N\rtimes R$, $Z_N\times R$, U(1)$\rtimes R$, or U(1)$\times R$], in the search for two-dimensional bosonic analogs of topological crystalline insulators in integer-$S$ spin systems with reflection and spin-rotation symmetries. To classify them, we employ a Chern-Simons approach and examine the stability of edge states against perturbations that preserve the assumed symmetries. We find that SPT phases protected by $Z_N\rtimes R$ symmetry are classified a…
We study Abelian braiding statistics of loop excitations in three-dimensional (3D) gauge theories with fermionic particles and the closely related problem of classifying 3D fermionic symmetry-protected topological (FSPT) phases with unitary symmetries. It is known that the two problems are related by turning FSPT phases into gauge theories through gauging the global symmetry of the former. We show that there exist certain types of Abelian loop braiding statistics that are allowed only in the the presence of fermionic particles, which correspond to 3D "intrinsic" FSPT phases, i.e., those that d…
We study the classification of interacting fermionic and bosonic symmetry protected topological (SPT) states. We define a SPT state as whether or not it is separated from the trivial state through a bulk phase transition, which is a general definition applicable to SPT states with or without spatial symmetries. We show that in all dimensions short range interactions can reduce the classification of free fermion SPT states, and we demonstrate these results by making connection between fermionic and bosonic SPT states. We first demonstrate that our formalism gives the correct classification for …
Symmetry protected topological (SPT) states are bulk gapped states with gapless edge excitations protected by certain symmetries. The SPT phases in free fermion systems, like topological insulators, can be classified by the K-theory. However, it is not known what SPT phases exist in general interacting systems. In this paper, we present a systematic way to construct SPT phases in interacting bosonic systems, which allows us to identify many new SPT phases, including three bosonic versions of topological insulators in three dimension and one in two dimension protected by particle number conserv…
We present a fully many-body formulation of topological invariants for various topological phases of fermions protected by antiunitary symmetry, which does not refer to single particle wave functions. For example, we construct the many-body $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological invariant for time-reversal symmetric topological insulators in two spatial dimensions, which is a many-body counterpart of the Kane-Mele $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant written in terms of single-particle Bloch wave functions. We show that an important ingredient for the construction of the many-body topological invariants is a fermioni…
Recently, it has been shown that two-dimensional bosonic symmetry-protected topological(SPT) phases with on-site unitary symmetry $G$ can be completely classified by the group cohomology class $H^3(G, \mathrm{U}(1))$. Later, group super-cohomology class was proposed as a partial classification for SPT phases of interacting fermions. In this work, we revisit this problem based on the mathematical framework of $G$-extension of unitary braided tensor category(UBTC) theory. We first reproduce the partial classifications given by group super-cohomology, then we show that with an additional $H^1(G, …
A platform for constructing microscopic Hamiltonians describing bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states is presented. The Hamiltonians we consider are examples of frustration-free Rokhsar-Kivelson models, which are known to be in one-to-one correspondence with classical stochastic systems in the same spatial dimensionality. By exploring this classical-quantum mapping, we are able to construct a large class of microscopic models which, in a closed manifold, have a non-degenerate gapped symmetric ground state describing the universal properties of SPT states. Examples of one and two …
We study the two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model using exact diagonalization for spin-1/2 fermions on the triangular and honeycomb lattices decorated with a single hexagon per site. In certain parameter ranges, the Hubbard model maps to a quantum compass model on those lattices. On the triangular lattice, the compass model exhibits collinear stripe antiferromagnetism, implying $d$-density wave charge order in the original Hubbard model. On the honeycomb lattice, the compass model has a unique, quantum disordered ground state that transforms nontrivially under lattice reflection. The ground stat…
The classification and construction of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases have been intensively studied in interacting systems recently. To our surprise, in interacting fermion systems, there exists a new class of the so-called anomalous SPT (ASPT) states which are only well defined on the boundary of a trivial fermionic bulk system. We first demonstrate the essential idea by considering an anomalous topological superconductor with time reversal symmetry $T^2=1$ in 2D. The physical reason is that the fermion parity might be changed locally by certain symmetry action, but is conserved …
We build exactly solvable lattice Hamiltonians for fermionic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in (3+1)D classified by group supercohomology. A central benefit of our construction is that it produces an explicit finite-depth quantum circuit (FDQC) that prepares the ground state from an unentangled symmetric state. The FDQC allows us to clearly demonstrate the characteristic properties of supercohomology phases - namely, symmetry fractionalization on fermion parity flux loops - predicted by continuum formulations. By composing the corresponding FDQCs, we also recover the stacking rela…
Using the decorated domain wall procedure, we construct Finite Depth Local Unitaries (FDLUs) that realize Fermionic Symmetry-Protected Topological (SPT) phases. This results in explicit 'full' commuting projector Hamiltonians, where 'full' implies the fact that the ground state, as well as all excited states of these Hamiltonians, realizes the nontrivial SPT phase. We begin by constructing explicit examples of 1+1D phases protected by symmetry groups $G=\mathbb Z_2^T \times \mathbb Z_2^F$ , which also has a free fermion realization in class BDI, and $G=\mathbb Z_4 \times \mathbb Z_4^F$, which …
Bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states are gapped disordered phases of matter possessing symmetry-preserving boundary excitations. It has been proposed that, at long wavelengths, the universal properties of an SPT system are captured by an effective non-linear sigma model field theory in the presence of a quantized topological theta-term. By studying lattice models of bosonic SPT states, we are able to identify, in their Euclidean path integral formulation, (discrete) Berry phases that hold relevant physical information on the nature of the SPT ground states. These discrete Berry …
We classify Bosonic Topological Insulators and Paramagnets in D<=4 spatial dimensions using the cobordism approach. For D<4 we confirm that the only such phase which does not fit into the group cohomology classification is the 3D Bosonic Topological Insulator protected by time-reversal symmetry whose surface admits an all-fermion topologically ordered state. For D=4 there is a unique "beyond group cohomology" phase. It is protected by gravitational anomalies of the boundary theory and is stable without any additional symmetry.
The nature of symmetry-protected topological phases of Heisenberg spin chains in totally symmetric representations of rank N of the SU(N) group is investigated through a Majorana fermion study starting from an integrable point. The latter approach generalizes the one pioneered by Tsvelik [A. M. Tsvelik, Phys. Rev. B 42, 10 499 (1990)] to describe the low-energy properties of the Haldane phase of the spin-1 Heisenberg chain from three massive Majorana fermions. We find for all N the emergence of a non-degenerate gapped phase with edge states whose topological protection depends on the parity of…
Symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in free fermion and interacting bosonic systems have been classified, but the physical phenomena of interacting fermionic SPT phases have not been fully explored. Here, employing large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulation, we investigate the edge physics of a bilayer Kane-Mele-Hubbard model with zigzag ribbon geometry. Our unbiased numerical results show that the fermion edge modes are gapped out by interaction, while the bosonic edge modes remain gapless at the $(1+1)d$ boundary, before the bulk quantum phase transition to a topologically trivial ph…
Symmetry-protected phases are gapped phases of matter which are distinguished only in the presence of a global symmetry G. These quantum phases lack any symmetry-breaking or topological order, and have short-range entangled ground states. Based on this short-range entanglement property, we give a general argument for the existence of an emergent unitary or anti-unitary $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry at a critical point separating two different bosonic symmetry-protected phases in any dimension. Often, the emergent symmetry group at criticality has a mixed global anomaly. For those phases classified b…
In this work, we study the transport through a quantum point contact for bosonic helical liquid that exists at the edge of a bilayer graphene under a strong magnetic field. We identify "smoking gun" transport signatures to distinguish bosonic symmetry protected topological (BSPT) state from fermionic two-channel quantum spin Hall (QSH) state in this system. In particular, a novel charge insulator/spin conductor phase is found for BSPT state, while either charge insulator/spin insulator or charge conductor/spin conductor phase is expected for the two-channel QSH state. Consequently, a simple tr…
By performing large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations, we investigate a one-dimensional correlated bosonic lattice model with a synthetic spin-orbit coupling realized in recent experiments. In the insulating regime, this model exhibits a symmetry-protected topological phase. This symmetry-protected topological phase is stabilized by time-reversal symmetry and it is identified as a Haldane phase. We confirm our conclusions further by analyzing the entanglement spectrum. In addition, we find four conventional phases: a Mott insulating phase with no long range order, a ferrom…
Bosonic symmetry protected topological (BSPT) states, the bosonic analogue of topological insulators, have attracted enormous theoretical interest in the last few years. Although BSPT states have been classified by various approaches, there is so far no successful experimental realization of any BSPT state in two or higher dimensions. In this paper, we propose that a two dimensional BSPT state with $U(1) \times U(1)$ symmetry can be realized in bilayer graphene in a magnetic field. Here the two $U(1)$ symmetries represent total spin $S^z$ and total charge conservation respectively. The Coulomb…
We construct fixed point lattice models for group supercohomology symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases of fermions in 2+1D. A key feature of our approach is to construct finite depth circuits of local unitaries that explicitly build the ground states from a tensor product state. We then recover the classification of fermionic SPT phases, including the group structure under stacking, from the algebraic composition rules of these circuits. Furthermore, we show that the circuits are symmetric, implying that the group supercohomology phases can be many body localized. Our strategy involves …
We study the structure of the ground state wave functions of bosonic Symmetry Protected Topological (SPT) insulators in 3 space dimensions. We demonstrate that the differences with conventional insulators are captured simply in a dual vortex description. As an example we show that a previously studied bosonic topological insulator with both global U(1) and time-reversal symmetry can be described by a rather simple wave function written in terms of dual "vortex ribbons". The wave function is a superposition of all the vortex ribbon configurations of the boson, and a factor (-1) is associated wi…
We study the effect of interactions on 2D fermionic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases using the recently proposed braiding statistics approach. We focus on a simple class of examples: superconductors with a Z2 Ising symmetry. Although these systems are classified by Z in the noninteracting limit, our results suggest that the classification collapses to Z8 in the presence of interactions -- consistent with previous work that analyzed the stability of the edge. Specifically, we show that there are at least 8 different types of Ising superconductors that cannot be adiabatically connecte…
The low-energy physics of graphene is described by relativistic Dirac fermions with spin and valley degrees of freedom. Mechanical strain can be used to create a pseudo magnetic field pointing to opposite directions in the two valleys. We study interacting electrons in graphene exposed to both an external real magnetic field and a strain-induced pseudo magnetic field. For a certain ratio between these two fields, it is proposed that a fermionic symmetry-protected topological state can be realized. The state is characterized in detail using model wave functions, Chern-Simons field theory, and n…
Motivated by the recent discovery of higher-order topological insulators, we study their counterparts in strongly interacting bosons: `higher-order symmetry protected topological (HOSPT) phases'. While the usual (1st-order) SPT phases in d spatial dimensions support anomalous (d-1)-dimensional surface states, HOSPT phases in d dimensions are characterized by topological boundary states of dimension (d-2) or smaller, protected by certain global symmetries and robust against disorders. Based on a dimensional reduction analysis, we show that HOSPT phases can be built from lower-dimensional SPT ph…
The classification and lattice model construction of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting fermion systems are very interesting but challenging. In this paper, we give a systematic fixed point wave function construction of fermionic SPT (FSPT) states for generic fermionic symmetry group $G_f=\mathbb{Z}_2^f \times_{ω_2} G_b$ which is a central extension of bosonic symmetry group $G_b$ (may contain time reversal symmetry) by the fermion parity symmetry group $\mathbb{Z}_2^f = \{1,P_f\}$. Our construction is based on the concept of equivalence class of finite depth fermionic …
We define and compute many-body topological invariants of interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases, protected by an orientation-reversing symmetry, such as time-reversal or reflection symmetry. The topological invariants are given by partition functions obtained by a path integral on unoriented spacetime which, as we show, can be computed for a given ground state wave function by considering a non-local operation, "partial" reflection or transpose. As an application of our scheme, we study the $\mathbb{Z}_8$ and $\mathbb{Z}_{16}$ classification of topological superconductors…
Classification and construction of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting boson and fermion systems have become a fascinating theoretical direction in recent years. It has been shown that the (generalized) group cohomology theory or cobordism theory can give rise to a complete classification of SPT phases in interacting boson/spin systems. Nevertheless, the construction and classification of SPT phases in interacting fermion systems are much more complicated, especially in 3D. In this work, we revisit this problem based on the equivalent class of fermionic symmetric local u…
The Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) theorem and its higher-dimensional generalizations by Oshikawa and Hastings establish that a translation-invariant lattice model of spin-$1/2$'s can not have a non-degenerate ground state preserving both spin and translation symmetries. Recently it was shown that LSM theorems can be interpreted in terms of bulk-boundary correspondence of certain weak symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. In this work we discuss LSM-type theorems for two-dimensional fermionic systems, which have no bosonic analogs. They follow from a general classification of weak SPT phases…
We theoretically demonstrate that interacting symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases can be realized with ultracold spinful bosonic atoms loaded on the lattices which have a flat band at the bottom of the band structure. Ground states of such systems are not conventional Mott insulators in the sense that the ground states possess not only spin fluctuations but also non-negligible charge fluctuations. The SPT phases in such systems are determined by both spin and charge fluctuations at zero temperature. We find that the many-body ground states of such systems can be exactly obtained in som…
We classify and construct models for two-dimensional (2D) interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological (FSPT) phases with general finite Abelian unitary symmetry $G_f$. To obtain the classification, we couple the FSPT system to a dynamical discrete gauge field with gauge group $G_f$ and study braiding statistics in the resulting gauge theory. Under reasonable assumptions, the braiding statistics data allows us to infer a potentially complete classification of 2D FSPT phases with Abelian symmetry. The FSPT models that we construct are simple stacks of the following two kinds of existing…
The low energy behavior of a huge variety of one-dimensional interacting spinful fermionic systems exhibits spin-charge separation, described in the continuum limit by two sine-Gordon models decoupled in the charge and spin channels. Interaction is known to induce, besides the gapless Luttinger liquid phase, eight possible gapped phases, among which are the Mott, Haldane, charge-/spin-density, and bond-ordered wave insulators, and the Luther Emery liquid. Here we prove that some of these physically distinct phases have nontrivial topological properties, notably the presence of degenerate prote…
Predictions of localized Majorana modes, and ideas for manipulating these degrees of freedom, are the two key ingredients in proposals for physical platforms for Majorana quantum computation. Several proposals envisage a scalable network of such Majorana modes coupled bilinearly to each other by quantum-mechanical mixing amplitudes. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for characterizing collective topologically protected zero-energy Majorana fermion excitations of such networks of localized Majorana modes. A key ingredient in our work is the Gallai-Edmonds decomposition of a general graph…
In this paper we systematically classify and describe bosonic symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in all physical spatial dimensions using semiclassical nonlinear Sigma model (NLSM) field theories. All the SPT phases on a $d-$dimensional lattice discussed in this paper can be described by the same NLSM, which is an O(d+2) NLSM in $(d+1)-$dimensional space-time, with a topological $Θ-$term. The field in the NLSM is a semiclassical Landau order parameter with a unit length constraint. The classification of SPT phases discussed in this paper based on their NLSMs is consistent with the mor…
