A set of localized, non-Abelian anyons - such as vortices in a p_x + i p_y superconductor or quasiholes in certain quantum Hall states - gives rise to a macroscopic degeneracy. Such a degeneracy is split in the presence of interactions between the anyons. Here we show that in two spatial dimensions this splitting selects a unique collective state as ground state of the interacting many-body system. This collective state can be a novel gapped quantum liquid nucleated inside the original parent liquid (of which the anyons are excitations). This physics is of relevance for any quantum Hall plateau realizing a non-Abelian quantum Hall state when moving off the center of the plateau.
We introduce a Hamiltonian coupling Majorana fermion degrees of freedom to a quantum dimer model. We argue that, in three dimensions, this model has deconfined quasiparticles supporting Majorana zero modes obeying nontrivial statistics. We introduce two effective field theory descriptions of this deconfined phase, in which the excitations have Coulomb interactions. A key feature of this system is the existence of topologically non-trivial fermionic excitations, called Hopfions because, in a suitable continuum limit of the dimer model, such excitations correspond to the Hopf map and are related to excitations identified in arXiv:1003.1964. We identify corresponding topological invariants of the quantum dimer model (with or without fermions) which are present even on lattices with trivial topology. The Hopfion energy gap depends upon the phase of the model. We briefly comment on the possibility of a phase with a gapped, deconfined $mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge field, as may arise on the stacked triangular lattice.
We establish the existence of a chiral spin liquid (CSL) as the exact ground state of the Kitaev model on a decorated honeycomb lattice, which is obtained by replacing each site in the familiar honeycomb lattice with a triangle. The CSL state spontaneously breaks time reversal symmetry but preserves other symmetries. There are two topologically distinct CSLs separated by a quantum critical point. Interestingly, vortex excitations in the topologically nontrivial (Chern number $pm 1$) CSL obey non-Abelian statistics.
We present an exactly solvable model for synthetic anyons carrying non-Abelian flux. The model corresponds to a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field with a specific spin interaction term, which allows only fully aligned spin states in the ground state; the ground state subspace is thus two-fold degenerate. This system is perturbed with identical solenoids carrying a non-Abelian gauge potential. We explore dynamics of the ground state as these solenoids are adiabatically braided and show they behave as anyons with a non-Abelian flux. Such a system represents a middle ground between the ordinary Abelian anyons and the fully non-Abelian anyons.
Quantum mechanical systems, whose degrees of freedom are so-called su(2)_k anyons, form a bridge between ordinary SU(2) spin systems and systems of interacting non-Abelian anyons. Such a connection can be made for arbitrary spin-S systems, and we explicitly discuss spin-1/2 and spin-1 systems. Anyonic spin-1/2 chains exhibit a topological protection mechanism that stabilizes their gapless ground states and which vanishes only in the limit (k to infinity) of the ordinary spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain. For anyonic spin-1 chains we find their phase diagrams to closely mirror the one of the biquadratic SU(2) spin-1 chain. Our results describe at the same time nucleation of different 2D topological quantum fluids within a `parent non-Abelian quantum Hall state, arising from a macroscopic occupation of localized, interacting anyons. The edge states between the `nucleated and the `parent liquids are neutral, and correspond precisely to the gapless modes of the anyonic chains.
Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are fluid-like states of quantum spins where its long-range ordered state is destroyed by quantum fluctuations. The ground state of QSL and its exotic phenomena, which have been extensively discussed for decades, have yet to be identified. We employ thermal transport measurements on newly discovered QSL candidates, $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3 and EtMe3Sb[Pd(dmit)2]2, and report that the two organic insulators possess different QSLs characterized by different elementary excitations. In $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3, heat transport is thermally activated at low temperatures, suggesting presence of a spin gap in this QSL. In stark contrast, in EtMe3Sb[Pd(dmit)2]2, a sizable linear temperature dependence of thermal conductivity is clearly resolved in the zero-temperature limit, showing gapless excitation with a long mean free path (~1,000 lattice distances). Such a long mean free path demonstrates a novel feature of QSL as a quantum-condensed state with long-distance coherence.