Non-Abelian excitations are sought after because of the promise they hold for topological quantum computation. However, in spite of many proposals of systems in which they can occur intrinsically, observation has proved to be elusive. In this thesis, we study ways in which we can engineer such excitations by combining two parent Abelian theories, and as a result allow for defects which host non-Abelian zero modes. We first formulate the symmetries of the anyonic excitations of Abelian topological states. Then, we study properties of semiclassical point defects, called twist defects, which permute orbiting anyons by their symmetries. We see how to realize these defects at domain walls on the gapped edges of non-chiral fractional quantum Hall states. We have distinct gapped edge phases in one to one correspondence with the anyonic symmetries. Non-Abelian twist defects appear between different gapped phases. We study the twist defects for a variety of bosonic ADE fractional quantum spin Hall systems for which the anyonic symmetries turn out to be given by their Dynkin diagrams. We also look at superconducting heterostructures with fermionic quantum Hall states and show the presence of anyonic symmetries and twist defects which physically correspond to a fermion parity flip. This can result in Majorana bound states at such defects instead of more exotic parafermions as was believed before. This is because the presence of the superconductor necessitates the consideration of a larger bosonic topological order. We then investigate the twist defects further by promoting the anyonic symmetries from global to local. This deconfines the defects and results in non-Abelian topological states called twist liquids. Finally, we study the emergence of new topological order from two constituent systems driven by the condensation of a composite boson. This allows us to study a variety of systems with non-Abelian excitations.
We classify distinct types of quantum number fractionalization occurring in two-dimensional topologically ordered phases, focusing in particular on phases with
Z2 topological order, that is, on gapped
Z2 spin liquids. We find that the fractionalization class of each anyon is an equivalence class of projective representations of the symmetry group, corresponding to elements of the cohomology group
H2(G,Z2). This result leads us to a symmetry classification of gapped
Z2 spin liquids, such that two phases in different symmetry classes cannot be connected without breaking symmetry or crossing a phase transition. Symmetry classes are defined by specifying a fractionalization class for each type of anyon. The fusion rules of anyons play a crucial role in determining the symmetry classes. For translation and internal symmetries, braiding statistics plays no role, but can affect the classification when point group symmetries are present. For square lattice space group, time-reversal, and
SO(3) spin rotation symmetries, we find $2\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}098\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}176\ensuremath{\approx}{2}^{21}$ distinct symmetry classes. Our symmetry classification is not complete, as we exclude, by assumption, permutation of the different types of anyons by symmetry operations. We give an explicit construction of symmetry classes for square lattice space group symmetry in the toric code model. Via simple examples, we illustrate how information about fractionalization classes can, in principle, be obtained from the spectrum and quantum numbers of excited states. Moreover, the symmetry class can be partially determined from the quantum numbers of the four degenerate ground states on the torus. We also extend our results to arbitrary Abelian topological orders (limited, though, to translations and internal symmetries), and compare our classification with the related projective symmetry group classification of parton mean-field theories. Our results provide a framework for understanding and probing the sharp distinctions among symmetric
Z2 spin liquids and are a first step toward a full classification of symmetric topologically ordered phases.
Defects between gapped boundaries provide a possible physical realization of projective non-Abelian braid statistics. A notable example is the projective Majorana/parafermion braid statistics of boundary defects in fractional quantum Hall/topological insulator and superconductor heterostructures. In this paper, we develop general theories to analyze the topological properties and projective braiding of boundary defects of topological phases of matter in two spatial dimensions. We present commuting Hamiltonians to realize defects between gapped boundaries in any
(2+1)D untwisted Dijkgraaf-Witten theory, and use these to describe their topological properties such as their quantum dimension. By modeling the algebraic structure of boundary defects through multifusion categories, we establish a bulk-edge correspondence between certain boundary defects and symmetry defects in the bulk. Even though it is not clear how to physically braid the defects, this correspondence elucidates the projective braid statistics for many classes of boundary defects, both amongst themselves and with bulk anyons. Specifically, three such classes of importance to condensed matter physics/topological quantum computation are studied in detail: (1) a boundary defect version of Majorana and parafermion zero modes, (2) a similar version of genons in bilayer theories, and (3) boundary defects in
D(S3).
The hallmark of a two-dimensional (2d) topologically ordered phase is the existence of deconfined ``anyon'' excitations that have exotic braiding and exchange statistics, different from those of ordinary bosons or fermions. As opposed to conventional Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson phases, which are classified on the basis of the spontaneous breaking of an underlying symmetry, topologically ordered phases, such as those occurring in the fractional quantum Hall effect, are absolutely stable, not requiring any such symmetry. Recently, though, it has been realized that symmetries, which may still be present in such systems, can give rise to a host of new, distinct, many-body phases, all of which share the same underlying topological order. These ``symmetry enriched'' topological (SET) phases are distinguished not on the basis of anyon braiding statistics alone, but also by the symmetry properties of the anyons, such as their fractional charges, or the way that different anyons are permuted by the symmetry. Thus a useful approach to classifying SETs is to determine all possible such symmetry actions on the anyons that are algebraically consistent with the anyon statistics. Remarkably, however, there exist symmetry actions that, despite being algebraically consistent, cannot be realized in any physical system, and hence do not lead to valid 2d SETs. One class of such ``anomalous'' SETs, characterized by certain disallowed symmetry fractionalization patterns, finds a physical interpretation as an allowed surface state of certain three-dimensional (3d) short-range entangled phases, but another, characterized by some seemingly valid but anomalous permutation actions of the symmetry on the anyons and encoded in an
H3(G,A) group cohomology class, has so far eluded a physical interpretation. In this work, we find a way to physically realize these anomalously permuting SETs at the surfaces of certain 3d long-range entangled phases, expanding our understanding of general anomalous SETs in two dimensions.
We study (2+1)-dimensional phases with topological order, such as fractional quantum Hall states and gapped spin liquids, in the presence of global symmetries. Phases that share the same topological order can then differ depending on the action of symmetry, leading to symmetry-enriched topological (SET) phases. Here, we present a
K-matrix Chern-Simons approach to identify distinct phases with Abelian topological order, in the presence of unitary or antiunitary global symmetries. A key step is the identification of a smooth edge sewing condition that is used to check if two putative phases are indeed distinct. We illustrate this method by classifying
Z2 topological order (
Z2 spin liquids) in the presence of an internal
Z2 global symmetry for which we find six distinct phases. These include two phases with an unconventional action of symmetry that permutes anyons leading to symmetry-protected Majorana edge modes. Other routes to realizing protected edge states in SET phases are identified. Symmetry-enriched Laughlin states and double-semion theories are also discussed. Somewhat surprisingly, we observe that (i) gauging the global symmetry of distinct SET phases leads to topological orders with the same total quantum dimension, and (ii) a pair of distinct SET phases can yield the same topological order on gauging the symmetry.
Topological phases in two dimensions support anyonic quasiparticle excitations that obey neither bosonic nor fermionic statistics. These anyon structures often carry global symmetries that relate distinct anyons with similar fusion and statistical properties. Anyonic symmetries associate topological defects or fluxes in topological phases. As the symmetries are global and static, these extrinsic defects are semiclassical objects that behave disparately from conventional quantum anyons. Remarkably, even when the topological states supporting them are Abelian, they are generically non-Abelian and powerful enough for topological quantum computation. In this article, I review the most recent theoretical developments on symmetries and defects in topological phases.