In this paper we develop a sysmatical theory for topological orders by the projected p-wave superconducting (SC) wave-functions and unify the different topological orders for spin models into the fermionic picture. We found that the energy for the fermions at k=(0,0), (0, pi), (pi, 0), (pi, pi) acts as a topological invariable to characterize 16 universal classes of different topological orders for the spin models with translation invariance. Based on the projected p-wave SC wave-functions the topological properties for the known topological orders in the exact solved spin models are obtained. Finally new types of topological orders are predicted.
In this paper we develop a sysmatical theory for topological orders by the projected p-wave superconducting (SC) wave-functions and unify the different topological orders for spin models into the fermionic picture. We found that the energy for the fermions at k=(0,0), (0, pi), (pi, 0), (pi, pi) acts as a topological invariable to characterize 16 universal classes of different topological orders for the spin models with translation invariance. Based on the projected p-wave SC wave-functions the topological properties for the known topological orders in the exact solved spin models are obtained. Finally new types of topological orders are predicted.
Motivated by the duality between site-centered spin and bond-centered spin in one-dimensional system, which connects two different constructions of fermions from the same set of Majorana fermions, we show that two-dimensional models with topological orders can be constructed from certain well-known models with classical orders characterized by symmetry breaking. Topology-dependent ground state degeneracy, vanishing two-point correlation functions, and unpaired Majorana fermions on boundaries emerge naturally from such construction. The approach opens a different way to construct and characterize topological orders.
The Gutzwiller projection allows the construction of an assortment of variational wave functions for strongly correlated systems. For quantum spin S=1/2 models, Gutzwiller-projected wave functions have resonating-valence-bond structure and may represent states with fractional quantum numbers for the excitations. Using insights obtained from field-theoretical descriptions of fractionalization in two dimensions, we construct candidate wave functions of fractionalized states by projecting specific superconducting states. We explicitly demonstrate the presence of topological order in these states.
Superfluids and superconductors can be either fully gapped or gapless with nodal structures in momentum space. Both the gapped and nodal phases can be topologically protected and possess nontrivial topological invariants. Topological quantum phase transitions exist at zero temperature between different gapped phases or between gapped and nodal phases. These phase transitions can be driven by chemical potential and/or spin exchange fields. The two phases separated by the phase transition can have the same local order but differ in global topology. Thus, these topological quantum phase transitions cannot be described by the Landau paradigm of symmetry breaking. Although some aspects of these transitions, such as the change of topological invariants and gapless boundary states, have been discussed before, a complete theory of these transitions has yet to be developed. In this dissertation, we construct effective field theories to study the universality and thermodynamic signatures of these transitions. We find four different universality classes in superfluids and superconductors. Certain thermodynamic quantities, such as compressibility or spin susceptibility, change non-analytically across the transitions. For certain time-reversal symmetry breaking fields that lead to bulk phase transitions, there also exist topological phase transitions on the surface. All the topological phase transitions studied in this dissertation only exist at zero temperature. At finite temperature, different states are connected by smooth crossovers. There exists a quantum critical region at finite temperature near the quantum critical point (QCP). In this quantum critical region, thermodynamic quantities have universal scaling dependence on temperature dictated by the universality class of the QCP. We argue that these scaling properties can be used to probe and differentiate these QCPs. These bulk and surface topological quantum phase transitions are discussed in various concrete models, such as chiral and time-reversal invariant p-wave superfluids, topological superconductors of emergent Dirac fermions, and topological superconducting model of CuₓBi₂Se₃.
In this paper we systematically study a simple class of translation-symmetry protected topological orders in quantum spin systems using slave-particle approach. The lattice spin systems are translation invariant, but may break any other symmetries. We consider topologically ordered ground states that do not spontaneously break any symmetry. Those states can be described by Z2A or Z2B projective symmetry group. We find that the Z2A translation symmetric topological orders can still be divided into 16 subclasses corresponding to 16 translation-symmetry protected topological orders. We introduced four Z2 topological indices ${\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{\mathbf{k}}=0,1$ at k=(0,0), $(0,\ensuremath{\pi})$, $(\ensuremath{\pi},0)$, and $(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$ to characterize those 16 topological orders on square lattice. We calculated the topological degeneracies and crystal momenta for those 16 topological phases on even-by-even, even-by-odd, odd-by-even, and odd-by-odd lattices, which allows us to physically measure such topological orders. We predict the appearance of gapless fermionic excitations at the quantum phase transitions between those symmetry protected topological orders. Our result can be generalized to any dimensions. We find 256 translation-symmetry protected Z2A topological orders for a system on three-dimensional cubic lattice.
SC♯: superconductivity intertwined with topological order
Superconductivity and intrinsic topological order can intertwine in ways that go beyond simple coexistence. Here we develop a classification framework for (2+1)D gapped superconductors with condensate charge 2ne. By focusing on the topological properties of superconducting vortices, we precisely characterize this interplay. We obtain a classification with increasing levels of intertwinement, from the well known invertible superconductors without topological order, to untwisted and twisted SC∗, and finally to SC♯. Our main finding is the family SC♯, in which the elementary vortex carrying h/(2ne) flux cannot be factorized into an invertible superconductor vortex dressed by bulk anyons, and every elementary vortex is necessarily non-Abelian. For such phases, we also obtain no-go results: the elementary vortex sector has quantum dimension at least 6 and cannot satisfy Fibonacci fusion rules. We develop a systematic algebraic framework to obtain all these superconducting phases through anyon condensation, allowing us to construct several infinite families of examples and make connections to anyon superconductivity. Finally, we introduce primitive SC♯ phases for which factorization of every nontrivial vortex sector is obstructed, and argue that they cannot arise by disordering the relative phases of lower-charge superconducting condensates. Our classification scheme based on vortex properties allows us to uncover new distinctions between topologically ordered superconductors and constrain how they can be realized.
We propose a way-universal wave-function overlap-to extract universal topological data from generic ground states of gapped systems in any dimensions. Those extracted topological data might fully characterize the topological orders with a gapped or gapless boundary. For nonchiral topological orders in (2+1)D, these universal topological data consist of two matrices S and T, which generate a projective representation of SL(2,Z) on the degenerate ground state Hilbert space on a torus. For topological orders with a gapped boundary in higher dimensions, these data constitute a projective representation of the mapping class group MCG(M^{d}) of closed spatial manifold M^{d}. For a set of simple models and perturbations in two dimensions, we show that these quantities are protected to all orders in perturbation theory. These overlaps provide a much more powerful alternative to the topological entanglement entropy and allow for more efficient numerical implementations.