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arXiv:1307.8244 · Nuclear Physics B

Anyon condensation and tensor categories

Liang Kong

Published Jul 9, 2014• 299 citations
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Abstract

Instead of studying anyon condensation in various concrete models, we take a bootstrap approach by considering an abstract situation, in which an anyon condensation happens in a 2-d topological phase with anyonic excitations given by a modular tensor category C; and the anyons in the condensed phase are given by another modular tensor category D. By a bootstrap analysis, we derive a relation between anyons in D-phase and anyons in C-phase from natural physical requirements. It turns out that the vacuum (or the tensor unit) A in D-phase is necessary to be a connected commutative separable algebra in C, and the category D is equivalent to the category of local A-modules as modular tensor categories. This condensation also produces a gapped domain wall with wall excitations given by the category of A-modules in C. A more general situation is also studied in this paper. We will also show how to determine such algebra A from the initial and final data. Multi-condensations and 1-d condensations will also be briefly discussed. Examples will be given in the toric code model, Kitaev quantum double models, Levin–Wen types of lattice models and some chiral topological phases.

DOI
10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2014.07.003

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Instead of studying anyon condensation in various concrete models, we take a bootstrap approach by considering an abstract situation, in which an anyon condensation happens in a 2-d topological phase with anyonic excitations given by a modular tensor category C; and the anyons in the condensed phase are given by another modular tensor category D. By a bootstrap analysis, we derive a relation between anyons in D-phase and anyons in C-phase from natural physical requirements. It turns out that the vacuum (or the tensor unit) A in D-phase is necessary to be a connected commutative separable algebra in C, and the category D is equivalent to the category of local A-modules as modular tensor categories. This condensation also produces a gapped domain wall with wall excitations given by the category of A-modules in C. A more general situation is also studied in this paper. We will also show how to determine such algebra A from the initial and final data. Multi-condensations and 1-d condensations will also be briefly discussed. Examples will be given in the toric code model, Kitaev quantum double models, Levin–Wen types of lattice models and some chiral topological phases.
Instead of constructing anyon condensation in various concrete models, we take a bootstrap approach by considering an abstract situation, in which an anyon condensation happens in a 2-d topological phase with anyonic excitations given by a modular tensor category C; and the anyons in the condensed phase are given by another modular tensor category D. By a bootstrap analysis, we derive a relations between anyons in D-phase and anyons in C-phase from natural physical requirements. It turns out that the vacuum (or the tensor unit) A in D-phase is necessary to be a connected commutative separable algebra in C, and the category D is equivalent to the category of local A-modules as modular tensor categories. This condensation also produces a gapped domain wall with wall excitations given by the category of A-modules in C. More general situation is also discussed in this paper. We will also show how to determine such algebra A from the initial and final data. Multi-condensations and 1-d condensations will also be briefly discussed. Examples will be given in the toric code model, Kitaev quantum double models, Levin-Wen types of lattice models and some chiral topological phases.
Abstract We classify condensable E 2-algebras in a modular tensor category C up to 2-Morita equivalence. Physically, this classification provides an explicit criterion to determine when distinct condensable E 2-algebras yield the same condensed topological phase under a two-dimensional anyon condensation process. The relations between different condensable algebras can be translated into their module categories, interpreted physically as gapped domain walls in topological orders. As concrete examples, we interpret the categories of quantum doubles of finite groups and examples beyond group symmetries. Our framework fully elucidates the interplay among condensable E 1-algebras in C , condensable E 2-algebras in C up to 2-Morita equivalence, and Lagrangian algebras in C ⊠ C ¯ .
We discuss anyon condensation in mixed-state topological order. The phases were recently conjectured to be classified by pre-modular fusion categories. Just like anyon condensation in pure-state topological order, a bootstrap analysis shows condensable anyons are given by connected étale algebras. We explain how to perform generic anyon condensation including non-invertible anyons and successive condensations. Interestingly, some condensations lead to pure-state topological orders. We clarify when this happens. We also compute topological invariants of equivalence classes.
We classify E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras in a modular tensor category C\mathcal{C}C up to 2-Morita equivalence. From a physical perspective, this is equivalent to providing a criterion for when different E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras result in the same condensed topological phase in a 2d anyon condensation process. By considering the left and right centers of E1E_1E1​ condensable algebras in C\mathcal{C}C, we exhaust all 2-Morita equivalent E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras in C\mathcal{C}C and provide a method to recover E1E_1E1​ condensable algebras from 2-Morita equivalent E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras. We also prove that intersecting Lagrangian algebras in C⊠C‾\mathcal{C} \boxtimes \overline{\mathcal{C}}C⊠C with its left and right components generates all 2-Morita equivalent E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras in C\mathcal{C}C. This paper establishes a complete interplay between E1E_1E1​ condensable algebras in C\mathcal{C}C, 2-Morita equivalent E2E_2E2​ condensable algebras in C\mathcal{C}C, and Lagrangian algebras in C⊠C‾\mathcal{C} \boxtimes \overline{\mathcal{C}}C⊠C. The relations between different condensable algebras can be translated into their module categories, which correspond to domain walls in topological orders. We introduce a two-step condensation process and study the fusion of domain walls. We also show that an automorphism of an E2E_2E2​ condensable algebra may lead to a nontrivial braided autoequivalence in the condensed phase. As concrete examples, we interpret the categories of quantum doubles of finite groups. We also discuss examples beyond group symmetries. Moreover, our results can be generalized to Witt-equivalent modular tensor categories.
Abstract Anyon models are algebraic structures that model universal topological properties in topological phases of matter and can be regarded as mathematical characterization of topological order in two spacial dimensions. It is conjectured that every anyon model, or mathematically unitary modular tensor category, can be realized as the representation category of some chiral conformal field theory, or mathematically vertex operator algebra/local conformal net. This conjecture is known to be true for abelian anyon models providing support for the conjecture. We reexamine abelian anyon models from several different angles. First anyon models are algebraic data for both topological quantum field theories and chiral conformal field theories. While it is known that each abelian anyon model can be realized by a quantum abelian Chern–Simons (CS) theory and chiral conformal field theory, the construction is not algorithmic. Our goal is to provide such an explicit algorithm for a K -matrix in CS theory and a positive definite even one for a lattice conformal field theory. Secondly anyon models and chiral conformal field theories underlie the bulk-edge correspondence for topological phases of matter. But there are interesting subtleties in this correspondence when stability of the edge theory and topological symmetry are taken into consideration. Therefore, our focus is on the algorithmic reconstruction of extremal chiral conformal field theories with small central charges. Finally we conjecture that a much stronger reconstruction holds for abelian anyon models: every abelian anyon model can be realized as the representation category of some non-lattice extremal vertex operator algebra generalizing the moonshine realization of the trivial anyon model.
We study fermionic topological phases using the technique of fermion condensation. We give a prescription for performing fermion condensation in bosonic topological phases that contain a fermion. Our approach to fermion condensation can roughly be understood as coupling the parent bosonic topological phase to a phase of physical fermions and condensing pairs of physical and emergent fermions. There are two distinct types of objects in the resulting fermionic fusion categories, which we call “m-type” and “q-type” objects. The endomorphism algebras of q-type objects are complex Clifford algebras, and they have no analogs in bosonic theories. We construct a fermionic generalization of the tube category, which allows us to compute the quasiparticle excitations arising from the condensed theories. We prove a series of results relating data in fermionic theories to data in their parent bosonic theories; for example, if C is a modular tensor category containing a fermion, then the tube category constructed from the condensed theory satisfies Tube(C/ψ)≅C×(C/ψ). We also study how modular transformations, fusion rules, and coherence relations are modified in the fermionic setting, prove a fermionic version of the Verlinde dimension formula, construct a commuting projector lattice Hamiltonian for fermionic theories, and write down a fermionic version of the Turaev-Viro-Barrett-Westbury state sum. A large portion of this work is devoted to three detailed examples of performing fermion condensation to produce fermionic topological phases: we condense fermions in the Ising theory, the SO(3)6 theory, and the 12E6 theory and compute the quasiparticle excitation spectrum in each of the condensed theories.