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arXiv:1403.0768 · Physical Review B

Numerical study of a transition between Z2 topologically ordered phases

Siddhardh C. Morampudi, Curt W. von Keyserlingk, Frank Pollmann

Published Jul 14, 2014• 57 citations
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Abstract

Distinguishing different topologically ordered phases and characterizing phase transitions between them is a difficult task due to the absence of local order parameters. In this paper, we use a combination of analytical and numerical approaches to distinguish two such phases and characterize a phase transition between them. The ``toric code'' and ``double semion'' models are simple lattice models exhibiting ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological order. Although both models express the same topological ground state degeneracies and entanglement entropies, they are distinct phases of matter because their emergent quasiparticles obey different statistics. For a 1D model, we tune a phase transition between these two phases and obtain an exact solution to the entire phase diagram, finding a second-order Ising$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}$Ising transition. We then use exact diagonalization to study the 2D case and find indications of a first-order transition. We show that the quasiparticle statistics provides a robust indicator of the distinct topological orders throughout the whole phase diagram.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.90.035117

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Distinguishing different topologically ordered phases and characterizing phase transitions between them is a difficult task due to the absence of local order parameters. In this paper, we use a combination of analytical and numerical approaches to distinguish two such phases and characterize a phase transition between them. The toric code'' and double semion'' models are simple lattice models exhibiting Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological order. Although both models express the same topological ground state degeneracies and entanglement entropies, they are distinct phases of matter because their emergent quasiparticles obey different statistics. For a 1D model, we tune a phase transition between these two phases and obtain an exact solution to the entire phase diagram, finding a second-order Ising\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fiIsing transition. We then use exact diagonalization to study the 2D case and find indications of a first-order transition. We show that the quasiparticle statistics provides a robust indicator of the distinct topological orders throughout the whole phase diagram.
We demonstrate that two toric code layers on the square lattice coupled by an Ising interaction display two distinct phases with intrinsic topological order. The second-order quantum phase transition between the weakly coupled ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ and the strongly coupled Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological order can be described by the condensation of bosonic quasiparticles from both sides and belongs to the three-dimensional Ising∗{\mathrm{Ising}}^{*}Ising∗ universality class. This can be shown by an exact duality transformation to the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, which builds on the existence of an extensive number of local Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ conserved parities. These conserved quantities correspond to the product of two adjacent star operators on different layers. Notably, we show that the low-energy effective model derived about the limit of large Ising coupling is given by an effective single-layer toric code in terms of the conserved quantities of the Ising toric code bilayer. The two topological phases are further characterized by the topological entanglement entropy which serves as a nonlocal order parameter.
Although the topological order is known as a quantum order in quantum many-body systems, it seems that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between topological phases and quantum phases. As a well-known example, it has been shown that all one-dimensional (1D) quantum phases are topologically trivial [X. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. B 83, 035107 (2011)]. By such facts, it seems a challenging task to understand when a quantum phase transition between different topological models necessarily reveals different topological classes of them. In this paper, we make an attempt to consider this problem by studying a phase transition between two different quantum phases which have a universal topological phase. We define a Hamiltonian as interpolation of the toric code model with Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ topological order and the color code model with ${Z}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{Z}_{2}$ topological order on a hexagonal lattice. We show such a model is exactly mapped to many copies of 1D quantum Ising model in transverse field by rewriting the Hamiltonian in a new complete basis. Consequently, we show that the universal topological phase of the color code model and the toric code model reflects in the 1D nature of the phase transition. We also consider the expectation value of Wilson loops by a perturbative calculation and show that behavior of the Wilson loop captures the nontopological nature of the quantum phase transition. The result on the point of phase transition also shows that the color code model is strongly robust against the toric code model.
We use projected entangled pair states (PEPS) to study topological quantum phase transitions. The local description of topological order in the PEPS formalism allows us to set up order parameters which measure condensation and deconfinement of anyons and serve as substitutes for conventional order parameters. We apply these order parameters, together with anyon-anyon correlation functions and some further probes, to characterize topological phases and phase transitions within a family of models based on a Z4{\mathbb{Z}}_{4}Z4​ symmetry, which contains Z4{\mathbb{Z}}_{4}Z4​ quantum double, toric code, double semion, and trivial phases. We find a diverse phase diagram which exhibits a variety of different phase transitions of both first and second order which we comprehensively characterize, including direct transitions between the toric code and the double semion phase.
Due to the absence of local order parameters, it is a challenging task to characterize the quantum topological phase transitions between topologically ordered phases in two dimensions. In this paper, we construct a topologically ordered tensor network wave function with one parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}$, describing both the toric code state $(\ensuremath{\lambda}=1)$ and double semion state $(\ensuremath{\lambda}=\ensuremath{-}1)$. Via calculating the correlation length defined from the one-dimensional quantum transfer operator of the wave function norm, we can map out the complete phase diagram in terms of the parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}$, and three different quantum critical points (QCPs) at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=0,\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.73$ are identified. The first one separates the toric code phase and double semion phase, while latter two describe the topological phase transitions from the toric code phase or double semion phase to the symmetry-breaking phase, respectively. When mapping the quantum tensor network wave function to the exactly solved statistical model, the norm of the wave function is identified as the partition function of the classical eight-vertex model, and both QCPs at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.73$ correspond to the eight-vertex model at the critical point $\ensuremath{\lambda}=\sqrt{3}$, while the QCP at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=0$ corresponds to the critical six-vertex model. Actually such a quantum-classical mapping cannot yield the complete low-energy excitations at these three QCPs. We further demonstrate that the full eigenvalue spectra of the transfer operators without/with the flux insertions can give rise to the complete quantum criticalities, which are described by the (2+0)-dimensional free boson conformal field theories (CFTs) compactified on a circle with the radius R=6R=\sqrt{6}R=6​ at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\sqrt{3}$ and R=8/3R=\sqrt{8/3}R=8/3​ at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=0$. From the complete transfer operator spectra, the finite-size spectra of the CFTs for the critical eight-vertex model are obtained, and the topological sectors of anyonic excitations are yielded as well. Furthermore, for the QCP at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=0$, no anyon condensation occurs, but the emerged symmetries of the matrix product operators significantly enrich the topological sectors of the CFT spectra. Finally, we provide our understanding of the (2+0)-dimensional conformal quantum criticalities and their possible connection with the generic (2+1)-dimensional CFTs for quantum topological phase transitions.
Quantum phase transitions between different topologically ordered phases exhibit rich structures and are generically challenging to study in microscopic lattice models. In this paper, we propose a tensor-network solvable model that allows us to tune between different symmetry enriched topological (SET) phases. Concretely, we consider a decorated two-dimensional toric code model for which the ground state can be expressed as a two-dimensional tensor-network state with bond dimension D=3D=3D=3 and two tunable parameters. We find that the time-reversal (TR) symmetric system exhibits three distinct phases: (i) an SET toric code phase in which anyons transform nontrivially under TR, (ii) a toric code phase in which TR does not fractionalize, and (iii) a topologically trivial phase that is adiabatically connected to a product state. We characterize the different phases using the topological entanglement entropy and a membrane order parameter that distinguishes the two SET phases. Along the phase boundary between the SET toric code phase and the toric code phase, the model has an enhanced U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry and the ground state is a quantum critical loop gas wavefunction whose squared norm is equivalent to the partition function of the classical O(2)O(2)O(2) model. By duality transformations, this tensor-network solvable model can also be used to describe transitions between SET double-semion phases and between ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}^{T}$ symmetry protected topological phases in two dimensions.
The Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ topological order in Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid and in the exactly solvable Kitaev toric code model is the simplest topological order for 2 + 1D bosonic systems. More general 2 + 1D bosonic topologically ordered states can be constructed via exactly solvable string-net models. However, the most important topologically ordered phases of matter are arguably the fermionic fractional quantum Hall states. Topological phases of matter for fermion systems are strictly richer than their bosonic counterparts because locality has different meanings for the two kinds of systems. In this paper, we describe a simple fermionic version of the toric code model to illustrate many salient features of fermionic exactly solvable models and fermionic topologically ordered states.