arXiv:1110.3632 · New Journal of Physics
Breakdown of a perturbed $\boldsymbol{\mathbbm{Z}}_N$ topological phase
Marc Daniel Schulz, Sébastien Dusuel, Román Orús, Julien Vidal, Kai Phillip Schmidt
Abstract
We studied the robustness of a generalized Kitaev's toric code with degrees of freedom in the presence of local perturbations. For N = 2, this model reduces to the conventional toric code in a uniform magnetic field. A quantitative analysis was performed for the perturbed toric code by applying a combination of high-order series expansions and variational techniques. We found strong evidence for first- and second-order phase transitions between topologically ordered and polarized phases. Most interestingly, our results also indicate the existence of topological multi-critical points in the phase diagram.