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arXiv:1708.08930 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Tensor networks with a twist: Anyon-permuting domain walls and defects in projected entangled pair states

Jacob C. Bridgeman, Stephen D. Bartlett, Andrew C. Doherty

Published Dec 14, 2017• 22 citations
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Abstract

We study the realization of anyon-permuting symmetries of topological phases on the lattice using tensor networks. Working on the virtual level of a projected entangled pair state, we find matrix product operators (MPOs) that realize all unitary topological symmetries for the toric and color codes. These operators act as domain walls that enact the symmetry transformation on anyons as they cross. By considering open boundary conditions for these domain wall MPOs, we show how to introduce symmetry twists and defect lines into the state.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.96.245122

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We study the realization of anyon-permuting symmetries of topological phases on the lattice using tensor networks. Working on the virtual level of a projected entangled pair state, we find matrix product operators (MPOs) that realize all unitary topological symmetries for the toric and color codes. These operators act as domain walls that enact the symmetry transformation on anyons as they cross. By considering open boundary conditions for these domain wall MPOs, we show how to introduce symmetry twists and defect lines into the state.
We study symmetry-enriched topological order in two-dimensional tensor network states by using graded matrix product operator algebras to represent symmetry-induced domain walls. A close connection to the theory of graded unitary fusion categories is established. Tensor network representations of the topological defect superselection sectors are constructed for all domain walls. The emergent symmetry-enriched topological order is extracted from these representations, including the symmetry action on the underlying anyons. Dual phase transitions, induced by gauging a global symmetry, and condensation of a bosonic subtheory, are analyzed and the relationship between topological orders on either side of the transition is derived. Several examples are worked through explicitly.
We provide a description of virtual non-local matrix product operator (MPO) symmetries in projected entangled pair state (PEPS) representations of string-net models. Given such a PEPS representation, we show that the consistency conditions of its MPO symmetries amount to a set of six coupled equations that can be identified with the pentagon equations of a bimodule category. This allows us to classify all equivalent PEPS representations and build MPO intertwiners between them, synthesising and generalising the wide variety of tensor network representations of topological phases. Furthermore, we use this generalisation to build explicit PEPS realisations of domain walls between different topological phases as constructed by Kitaev and Kong [Commun. Math. Phys. 313 (2012) 351-373]. While the prevailing abstract categorical approach is sufficient to describe the structure of topological phases, explicit tensor network representations are required to simulate these systems on a computer, such as needed for calculating thresholds of quantum error-correcting codes based on string-nets with boundaries. Finally, we show that all these string-net PEPS representations can be understood as specific instances of Turaev-Viro state-sum models of topological field theory on three-manifolds with a physical boundary, thereby putting these tensor network constructions on a mathematically rigorous footing.
Abstract In this work, we explore a microscopic realization of three types of anyonic symmetries in a Z 2 × Z 2 topological order, corresponding to a double toric code. These symmetries act as nontrivial permutations on the anyon labels of the parent state. We consider a setup consisting of two decoupled Wen plaquette models stacked on top of each other and introduce dislocations that modify the Hamiltonian, giving rise to localized twist defects, eventually inducing interactions between the layers. In this context, branch cuts act as sources of anyon permutations when they cross it. We characterize the defects by calculating their quantum dimensions, and we also consider double loop operators around them that allow us to determine the non-Abelian fusion rules between the defects, including when they carry different anyon permutations.
Abstract One of the most striking features of gapped quantum phases that exhibit topological order is the presence of long-range entanglement that cannot be detected by any local order parameter. The formalism of projected entangled-pair states is a natural framework for the parameterization of gapped ground state wavefunctions which allows one to characterize topological order in terms of the virtual symmetries of the local tensors that encode the wavefunction. In their most general form, these symmetries are represented by matrix product operators acting on the virtual level, which leads to a set of algebraic rules characterizing states with topological quantum order. This construction generalizes the concepts of G{\mathsf {G}}G G - and twisted injectivity; the corresponding matrix product operators encode all topological features of the theory and provide a complete picture of the ground state manifold on the torus. We show how the string-net models of Levin and Wen fit within this formalism and in doing so provide a particularly intuitive interpretation of the pentagon equation for F-symbols as the pulling of matrix product operators through the string-net tensor network. Our approach paves the way to finding novel topological phases beyond string nets and elucidates the description of topological phases in terms of entanglement Hamiltonians and edge theories.
We study fermionic matrix product operator algebras and identify the associated algebraic data. Using this algebraic data we construct fermionic tensor network states in two dimensions that have non-trivial symmetry-protected or intrinsic topological order. The tensor network states allow us to relate physical properties of the topological phases to the underlying algebraic data. We illustrate this by calculating defect properties and modular matrices of supercohomology phases. Our formalism also captures Majorana defects as we show explicitly for a class of symmetry-protected and intrinsic topological phases. The tensor networks states presented here are well-suited for numerical applications and hence open up new possibilities for studying interacting fermionic topological phases.
Matrix Product Operators (MPOs) are tensor networks representing operators acting on 1D systems. They model a wide variety of situations, including communication channels with memory effects, quantum cellular automata, mixed states in 1D quantum systems, or holographic boundary models associated to 2D quantum systems. A scenario where MPOs have proven particularly useful is to represent algebras of non-trivial symmetries. Concretely, the boundary of both symmetry protected and topologically ordered phases in 2D quantum systems exhibit symmetries in the form of MPOs. In this paper, we develop a theory of MPOs as representations of algebraic structures. We establish a dictionary between algebra and MPO properties which allows to transfer results between both setups, covering the cases of pre-bialgebras, weak bialgebras, and weak Hopf algebras. We define the notion of pulling-through algebras, which abstracts the minimal requirements needed to define topologically ordered 2D tensor networks from MPO algebras. We show, as one of our main results, that any semisimple pivotal weak Hopf algebra is a pulling-through algebra. We demonstrate the power of this framework by showing that they can be used to construct Kitaev's quantum double models for Hopf algebras solely from an MPO representation of the Hopf algebra, in the exact same way as MPO symmetries obtained from fusion categories can be used to construct Levin-Wen string-net models, and to explain all their topological features; it thus allows to describe both Kitaev and string-net models on the same formal footing.