Domain Wall Decorations, Anomalies and Spectral Sequences in Bosonic Topological Phases

In this work we investigate the decorated domain wall construction in bosonic group-cohomology symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases and related quantum anomalies in bosonic topological phases. We first show that a general decorated domain wall construction can be described mathematically as an Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence, where the terms on the $E_2$ page correspond to decorations by lower-dimensional SPT states at domain wall junctions. For bosonic group-cohomology SPT phases, the spectral sequence becomes the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre (LHS) spectral sequence for ordinary group cohomology. We then discuss the physical interpretations of the differentials in the spectral sequence, particularly in the context of anomalous SPT phases and symmetry-enriched gauge theories. As the main technical result, we obtain a full description of the LHS spectral sequence concretely at the cochain level. The explicit formulae are then applied to explain Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorems for SPT phases, and also derive a new LSM theorem for easy-plane spin model in a $pi$ flux lattice. We also revisit the classifications of symmetry-enriched 2D and 3D Abelian gauge theories using our results.

Exactly solvable models for U(1) symmetry-enriched topological phases

We propose a general construction of commuting projector lattice models for 2D and 3D topological phases enriched by U(1) symmetry, with finite-dimensional Hilbert space per site. The construction starts from a commuting projector model of the topological phase and decorates U(1) charges to the state space in a consistent manner. We show that all 2D U(1) symmetry-enriched topological phases which allow gapped boundary without breaking symmetry, can be realized through our construction. We also construct a large class of 3D topological phases with U(1) symmetry fractionalized on particles or loop excitations.

Computing classification of interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases using topological invariants

The computation of certain obstruction functions is a central task in classifying interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. Using techniques in group-cohomology theory, we develop an algorithm to accelerate this computation. Mathematically, cochains in the cohomology of the symmetry group, which are used to enumerate the SPT phases, can be expressed equivalently in different linear basis, known as the resolutions of the group. By expressing the cochains in a reduced resolution containing much fewer basis than the choice commonly used in previous studies, the computational cost is drastically reduced. In particular, it reduces the computational cost for infinite discrete symmetry groups, like the wallpaper groups and space groups, from infinite to finite. As examples, we compute the classification of two-dimensional interacting fermionic SPT phases, for all 17 wallpaper symmetry groups.

Non-Abelian Three-Loop Braiding Statistics for 3D Fermionic Topological Phases

Fractional statistics is one of the most intriguing features of topological phases in 2D. In particular, the so-called non-Abelian statistics plays a crucial role towards realizing universal topological quantum computation. Recently, the study of topological phases has been extended to 3D and it has been proposed that loop-like extensive objects can also carry fractional statistics. In this work, we systematically study the so-called three-loop braiding statistics for loop-like excitations for 3D fermionic topological phases. Most surprisingly, we discovered new types of non-Abelian three-loop braiding statistics that can only be realized in fermionic systems (or equivalently bosonic systems with fermionic particles). The simplest example of such non-Abelian braiding statistics can be realized in interacting fermionic systems with a gauge group $mathbb{Z}_2 times mathbb{Z}_8$ or $mathbb{Z}_4 times mathbb{Z}_4$, and the physical origin of non-Abelian statistics can be viewed as attaching an open Majorana chain onto a pair of linked loops, which will naturally reduce to the well known Ising non-Abelian statistics via the standard dimension reduction scheme. Moreover, due to the correspondence between gauge theories with fermionic particles and classifying fermionic symmetry-protected topological (FSPT) phases with unitary symmetries, our study also give rise to an alternative way to classify FSPT phases with unitary symmetries. We further compare the classification results for FSPT phases with arbitrary Abelian total symmetry $G^f$ and find systematical agreement with previous studies using other methods. We believe that the proposed framework of understanding three-loop braiding statistics (including both Abelian and non-Abelian cases) in interacting fermion systems applies for generic fermonic topological phases in 3D.

Edge theories of 2D fermionic symmetry protected topological phases protected by unitary Abelian symmetries

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 may support gapless majorana fermion edge modes, (2) some nontrivial bosonic SPT phases may be trivialized if $G_f$ is a nontrivial extention of bosonic symmetry $G_b$ over $mathbb{Z}_2^f$, (3) certain intrinsic fSPT phases can only be realized in interacting fermionic system. We obtain edge theories for various fSPT phases, which can also be regarded as conformal field theories (CFT) with proper symmetry anomaly. In particular, we discover the construction of Luttinger liquid edge theories with central charge $n-1$ for Type-III bosonic SPT phases protected by $(mathbb{Z}_n)^3$ symmetry and the Luttinger liquid edge theories for intrinsically interacting fSPT protected by unitary Abelian symmetry. The ideas and methods used here might be generalized to derive the edge theories of fSPT phases with arbitrary unitary finite Abelian total symmetry $G_f$.

Construction and classification of point group symmetry protected topological phases in 2D interacting fermionic systems

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 discover several intriguing fermionic SPT states that can only be realized in interacting fermion systems (i.e., not in free-fermion or bosonic SPT systems). Moreover, we also verify the recently conjectured crystalline equivalence principle for 2D interacting fermion systems. Finally, the potential experimental realization of these new classes of point group SPT phases in 2D correlated superconductors is addressed.

Single-hole wave function in two dimensions: A case study of the doped Mott insulator

We study a ground-state ansatz for the single-hole doped $t$-$J$ model in two dimensions via a variational Monte Carlo (VMC) method. Such a single-hole wave function possesses finite angular momenta generated by hidden spin currents, which give rise to a novel ground state degeneracy in agreement with recent exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMGR) results. We further show that the wave function can be decomposed into a quasiparticle component and an incoherent momentum distribution in excellent agreement with the DMRG results up to an $8times 8 $ lattice. Such a two-component structure indicates the breakdown of Landaus one-to-one correspondence principle, and in particular, the quasiparticle spectral weight vanishes by a power law in the large sample-size limit. By contrast, turning off the phase string induced by the hole hopping in the so-called $sigmacdot ttext{-}J$ model, a conventional Bloch-wave wave function with a finite quasiparticle spectral weight can be recovered, also in agreement with the ED and DMRG results. The present study shows that a singular effect already takes place in the single-hole-doped Mott insulator, by which the bare hole is turned into a non-Landau quasiparticle with translational symmetry breaking. Generalizations to pairing and finite doping are briefly discussed.

Construction and classification of symmetry protected topological phases in interacting fermion systems

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 $G_f=mathbb{Z}_2^f times_{omega_2} G_b$ 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 symmetric local unitary (FSLU) transformations and decorating symmetry domain wall picture, subjected to certain obstructions. We will also discuss the systematical construction and classification of boundary anomalous SPT (ASPT) states which leads to a trivialization of the corresponding bulk FSPT states. Thus, we conjecture that the obstruction-free and trivialization-free constructions naturally lead to a classification of FSPT phases. Each fixed-point wave function admits an exactly solvable commuting-projector Hamiltonian. We believe that our classification scheme can be generalized to point/space group symmetry as well as continuum Lie group symmetry.

Topological Quantum Field Theory for Abelian Topological Phases and Loop Braiding Statistics in $(3+1)$-Dimensions

Topological qauntum field theory(TQFT) is a very powerful theoretical tool to study topological phases and phase transitions. In $2+1$D, it is well known that the Chern-Simons theory captures all the universal topological data of topological phases, e.g., quasi-particle braiding statistics, chiral central charge and even provides us a deep insight for the nature of topological phase transitions. Recently, topological phases of quantum matter are also intensively studied in $3+1$D and it has been shown that loop like excitation obeys the so-called three-loop-braiding statistics. In this paper, we will try to establish a TQFT framework to understand the quantum statistics of particle and loop like excitation in $3+1$D. We will focus on Abelian topological phases for simplicity, however, the general framework developed here is not limited to Abelian topological phases.

Anomalous symmetry protected topological states in interacting fermion systems

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 if we introduce a bulk. Then we discuss the layer structure and systematical construction of ASPT states in interacting fermion systems in 2D with a total symmetry $G_f=G_btimesmathbb{Z}_2^f$. Finally, potential experimental realizations of ASPT states are also addressed.