Skip to main content

Physics of symmetry protected topological phases involving higher symmetries and its applications

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

Chao-Ming Jian
Xiao-Chuan Wu
Yichen Xu
Cenke Xu

Abstract

We discuss physical constructions and the boundary properties of various symmetry-protected topological phases that involve 1-form symmetries from one spatial dimension to four spatial dimensions (4d). For example, the prototype three-dimensional (3d) boundary state of 4d SPT states involving 1-form symmetries can be either a gapless photon phase (quantum electrodynamics) or gapped topological order enriched by 1-form symmetries; that is, the loop excitations of these topological orders carry nontrivial 1-form symmetry charges. This study also serves the purpose of diagnosing anomalies of 3d states of matter. Connection between SPT states with 1-form symmetries and condensed-matter systems such as quantum dimer models at one lower dimension will also be discussed. Whether a quantum dimer model can have a trivial gapped phase depends on the nature of its corresponding bulk state in one higher dimension. © 2021 American Physical Society.

Date Published

Journal

Physical Review B

Volume

103

Issue

6

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85101906138&doi=10.1103%2fPhysRevB.103.064426&partnerID=40&md5=d74c8026a6a81c88befaca175ca910e1

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevB.103.064426

Group (Lab)

Chao-Ming Jian Group

Funding Source

1920434

Download citation