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arXiv:1509.00355 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Time reversal invariant gapped boundaries of the double semion state

F. J. Burnell, Xie Chen, Alexei Kitaev, Max A. Metlitski, Ashvin Vishwanath

Published Jun 30, 2016• 5 citations
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Abstract

The boundary of a fractionalized topological phase can be gapped by condensing a proper set of bosonic quasiparticles. Interestingly, in the presence of a global symmetry, such a boundary can have different symmetry transformation properties. Here we present an explicit example of this kind, in the double semion state with time reversal symmetry. We find two distinct cases where the semionic excitations on the boundary can transform either as time reversal singlets or as time reversal (Kramers) doublets, depending on the coherent phase factor of the Bose condensate. The existence of these two possibilities are demonstrated using both field-theory argument and exactly solvable lattice models. Furthermore, we study the domain walls between these two types of gapped boundaries and find that the application of time reversal symmetry tunnels a semion between them.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.93.235161

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The boundary of a fractionalized topological phase can be gapped by condensing a proper set of bosonic quasiparticles. Interestingly, in the presence of a global symmetry, such a boundary can have different symmetry transformation properties. Here we present an explicit example of this kind, in the double semion state with time reversal symmetry. We find two distinct cases where the semionic excitations on the boundary can transform either as time reversal singlets or as time reversal (Kramers) doublets, depending on the coherent phase factor of the Bose condensate. The existence of these two possibilities are demonstrated using both field-theory argument and exactly solvable lattice models. Furthermore, we study the domain walls between these two types of gapped boundaries and find that the application of time reversal symmetry tunnels a semion between them.
Symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases are gapped quantum phases which host symmetryprotected gapless boundary excitations. On the other hand, the boundary states can be gapped by spontaneously breaking symmetry. We show that topological defects on the symmetry-broken boundary cannot proliferate due to their fractional statistics. A gapped symmetric boundary, however, can be achieved between an SPT phase and certain fractionalized phase by condensing the bound state of a topological defect and an anyon. We demonstrate this by two examples in two dimensions: an exactly solvable model for the boundary between topological Ising paramagnet and double semion model, and a fermionic example on quantum spin Hall edge. Such a hybrid structure containing SPT phase and fractionalized phase generally support ground state degeneracy on torus.
Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases are gapped quantum phases which host symmetry-protected gapless edge excitations. On the other hand, the edge states can be gapped by spontaneously breaking symmetry. We show that topological defects on the symmetry-broken edge cannot proliferate due to their fractional statistics. A gapped symmetric boundary, however, can be achieved between an SPT phase and certain fractionalized phases by condensing the bound state of a topological defect and an anyon. We demonstrate this by two examples in two dimensions: an exactly solvable model for the boundary between a topological Ising paramagnet and the double-semion model, and a fermionic example about the quantum spin Hall edge. Such a hybrid structure containing both SPT phase and fractionalized phase generally support ground-state degeneracy on a torus.
We show that there exist two-dimensional (2D) time-reversal invariant fractionalized insulators with the property that both their boundary with the vacuum and their boundary with a topological insulator can be fully gapped without breaking time-reversal or charge conservation symmetry. This result leads us to an apparent paradox: we consider a geometry in which a disklike region made up of a topological insulator is surrounded by an annular strip of a fractionalized insulator, which is, in turn, surrounded by the vacuum. If we gap both boundaries of the strip, we naively obtain an example of a gapped interface between a topological insulator and the vacuum that does not break any symmetries---an impossibility. The resolution of this paradox is that this system spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry in an unusual way, which we call weak symmetry breaking. In particular, we find that the only order parameters that are sensitive to the symmetry breaking are nonlocal operators that describe quasiparticle tunneling processes between the two edges of the strip; expectation values of local order parameters vanish exponentially in the limit of a wide strip. Also, we find that the symmetry breaking in our system comes with a ground-state degeneracy, but this ground-state degeneracy is topologically protected, rather than symmetry protected. We show that this kind of symmetry breaking can also occur at the edge of 2D fractional topological insulators.
It is well known that a bosonic Mott insulator can be realized by condensing vortices of a boson condensate. Usually, a vortex becomes an antivortex (and vice versa) under time reversal symmetry, and the condensation of vortices results in a trivial Mott insulator. However, if each vortex or antivortex interacts with a spin trapped at its core, the time reversal transformation of the composite vortex operator will contain an extra minus sign. It turns out that such a composite vortex condensed state is a bosonic topological insulator (BTI) with gapless boundary excitations protected by U(1)⋊Z2(T) symmetry. We point out that in BTI, an external π-flux monodromy defect carries a Kramers doublet. We propose lattice model Hamiltonians to realize the BTI phase, which might be implemented in cold atom systems or spin-1 solid state systems.
It is well known that a Bosonic Mott insulator can be realized by condensing vortices of a boson condensate. Usually, a vortex becomes an anti-vortex (and vice-versa) under time reversal symmetry, and the condensation of vortices results in a trivial Mott insulator. However, if each vortex/anti-vortex interacts with a spin trapped at its core, the time reversal transformation of the composite vortex operator will contain an extra minus sign. It turns out that such a composite vortex condensed state is a bosonic topological insulator (BTI) with gapless boundary excitations protected by U(1)oZ 2 symmetry. We point out that in BTI, an external π flux monodromy defect carries a Kramers doublet. We propose lattice model Hamiltonians to realize the BTI phase, which might be implemented in cold atom systems or spin-1 solid state systems.
Transitions between different topologically ordered phases have been studied by artificially creating boundaries between these gapped phases and thus studying their effects relating to condensation and tunneling of particles from one phase to the other. In this work we introduce exactly solvable models which are similar to the quantum double models (QDM) of Kitaev where such domain walls are dynamically generated making them a part of the spectrum. These systems have a local symmetry and may or may not have a global symmetry leading to the possibility of a ground state degeneracy arising from both, global symmetry breaking and a topological degeneracy. The domain wall states now separate the different topologically ordered phases belonging to the different sectors controlled by the global symmetry, when present. They have interesting properties including fusion with the deconfined anyons of the topologically ordered phase, to either create new domain walls, or their annihilation. They can also act like a scatterer permuting anyons of the topologically ordered phases on either side of the domain wall. Thus these domain wall states can be thought of as a synthetic scatterer which can be created in any part of the lattice. We show these effects for the simplest case of the Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ toric code phase decorated with a global Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ symmetry and then make remarks about the case when we have the QDM based on two arbitrary groups G1G_1G1​ and G2G_2G2​ in which case we may no longer have a global symmetry.