We extend the concept of strange correlators, defined for symmetry-protected phases in You et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 247202 (2014)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.112.247202], to topological phases of matter by taking the inner product between string-net ground states and product states. The resulting two-dimensional partition functions are shown to be either critical or symmetry broken, since the corresponding transfer matrices inherit all matrix product operator symmetries of the string-net states. For the case of critical systems, these nonlocal matrix product operator symmetries are the lattice remnants of topological conformal defects in the field theory description. Following Aasen et al. [J. Phys. A 49, 354001 (2016)JPAMB51751-811310.1088/1751-8113/49/35/354001], we argue that the different conformal boundary conditions can be obtained by applying the strange correlator concept to the different topological sectors of the string net obtained from Ocneanu's tube algebra. This is demonstrated on the lattice by calculating the conformal field theory spectra in the different topological sectors for the Fibonacci (hard-hexagon) and Ising string net. Additionally, we provide a complementary perspective on symmetry-preserving real-space renormalization by showing how known tensor network renormalization methods can be understood as the approximate truncation of an exactly coarse-grained strange correlator.
This dissertation contributes to the ongoing effort of understanding the origins and applications of real-space renormalization group methods in tensor network representations of classical and quantum many-body systems. First, we construct a matrix product operator ansatz to coarse-grain real-space transfer matrices of matrix product state descriptions of one-dimensional quantum spin chains. By treating the physical spin as an impurity, we unravel the virtual entanglement degrees of freedom of matrix product states into a layered structure to reveal an inherent renormalization group scale. Secondly, we rephrase tensor network renormalization for two-dimensional classical lattice models in a manifestly nonnegative way. The resulting real-space renormalization group flow preserves positivity and hence yields an interpretation in terms of Hamiltonian flows, reconciling modern real-space tensor network renormalization methods with traditional block-spin approaches. Thirdly, we study non-local symmetries in tensor networks by expressing two-dimensional classical partition functions in terms of strange correlators of judiciously chosen product states and string-net wave functions. We exhibit and exploit the emerging non-local symmetries of the partition function at criticality and highlight parallels between topological sectors and conformal primary fields in the shared framework of matrix product operator symmetries. Additionally, we provide a complementary perspective on real-space renormalization by recognizing known tensor network renormalization methods as the approximate truncation of an exactly coarse-grained strange correlator.
Abstract We explore the topological defects of the critical three-state Potts spin system on the torus, Klein bottle and cylinder. A complete characterization is obtained by breaking down the Fuchs–Runkel–Schweigert construction of 2D rational CFT to the lattice setting. This is done by applying the strange correlator prescription to the recently obtained tensor network descriptions of string-net ground states in terms of bimodule categories (Lootens et al 2021 SciPost Phys. 10 053). The symmetries are represented by matrix product operators (MPO), as well as intertwiners between the diagonal tetracritical Ising model and the non-diagonal three-state Potts model. Our categorical construction lifts the global transfer matrix symmetries and intertwiners, previously obtained by solving Yang–Baxter equations, to MPO symmetries and intertwiners that can be locally deformed, fused and split. This enables the extraction of conformal characters from partition functions and yields a comprehensive picture of all boundary conditions.
The critical two-dimensional classical Ising model on the square lattice has two topological conformal defects: the
Z2 symmetry defect ${D}_{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}$ and the Kramers-Wannier duality defect ${D}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}$. These two defects implement antiperiodic boundary conditions and a more exotic form of twisted boundary conditions, respectively. On the torus, the partition function
ZD of the critical Ising model in the presence of a topological conformal defect
D is expressed in terms of the scaling dimensions ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ and conformal spins ${s}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ of a distinct set of primary fields (and their descendants, or conformal towers) of the Ising conformal field theory. This characteristic conformal data ${{{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}},{s}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}}_{D}$ can be extracted from the eigenvalue spectrum of a transfer matrix
MD for the partition function
ZD. In this paper, we investigate the use of tensor network techniques to both represent and coarse grain the partition functions ${Z}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}$ and ${Z}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}$ of the critical Ising model with either a symmetry defect ${D}_{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}$ or a duality defect ${D}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}$. We also explain how to coarse grain the corresponding transfer matrices ${M}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}$ and ${M}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}$, from which we can extract accurate numerical estimates of ${{{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}},{s}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}$ and ${{{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}},{s}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}}_{{D}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}$. Two key ingredients of our approach are (i) coarse graining of the defect
D, which applies to any (i.e., not just topological) conformal defect and yields a set of associated scaling dimensions ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, and (ii) construction and coarse graining of a generalized translation operator using a local unitary transformation that moves the defect, which only exist for topological conformal defects and yields the corresponding conformal spins ${s}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$.
We provide a generalization of the matrix product operator formalism for string-net projected entangled pair states (PEPS) to include nonunitary solutions of the pentagon equation. These states provide the explicit lattice realization of the Galois conjugated counterparts of (2+1)-dimensional topological quantum field theories, based on tensor fusion categories. Although the parent Hamiltonians of these renormalization group fixed point states are gapless, these states can still be the topological ground states of a gapped non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We show by example that the topological sectors of the Yang-Lee theory (the nonunitary counterpart of the Fibonacci fusion category) can be constructed, even in the absence of closure under Hermitian conjugation of the basis elements of the Ocneanu tube algebra. The topological sector construction is demonstrated by applying the concept of strange correlators to the Yang-Lee model, giving rise to a nonunitary version of the classical hard hexagon model in the Yang-Lee universality class and obtaining all generalized twisted boundary conditions on a finite cylinder of the Yang-Lee edge singularity. Finally, we construct the PEPS transfer matrix and show that taking the Hermitian conjugate changes the topological phase for these nonunitary string-net models.
We introduce the concept of fermionic matrix product operators, and show that they provide a natural representation of fermionic fusion tensor categories. This allows for the classification of two dimensional fermionic topological phases in terms of matrix product operator algebras. Using this approach we give a classification of fermionic symmetry protected topological phases with respect to a group
G in terms of three cohomology groups:
H1(G,Z2), describing which matrix product operators are of Majorana type,
H2(G,Z2), describing the fermionic nature of the fusion tensors that arise when two matrix product operators are multiplied, and the supercohomolgy group
Hˉ3(G,U(1)) which corresponds to the associator that changes the order of fusion. We also generalize the tensor network description of the string-net ground states to the fermionic setting, yielding simple representations of a class that includes the fermionic toric code.
Topological phases exhibit unconventional order that cannot be detected by any local order parameter. In the framework of projected entangled pair states, topological order is characterized by an entanglement symmetry of the local tensor that describes the model. This symmetry can take the form of a tensor product of group representations [for quantum double models
D(G) of a group
G], or in the more general case a correlated symmetry action in the form of a matrix product operator (MPO), which encompasses all string-net models, including those that are not quantum double models. Among other things, these entanglement symmetries allow for the succinct description of ground states and topological excitations (anyons). Recently, the idea has been put forward to use those symmetries and the anyonic objects they describe as order parameters for probing topological phase transitions, and the applicability of this idea has been demonstrated for Abelian groups. In this paper, we extend this construction to the domain of non-Abelian models with MPO symmetries, and we use it to study the breakdown of topological order in the double Fibonacci (DFib) string-net model and its Galois conjugate, namely the non-Hermitian double Yang-Lee (DYL) string-net model. We start by showing how to construct topological order parameters for condensation and deconfinement of anyons using the MPO symmetries. Subsequently, we set up interpolations from the DFib and the DYL model to the trivial phase, and we show that these can be mapped to certain restricted solid on solid (RSOS) models, which are equivalent to the $[(5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\sqrt{5})/2]$-state Potts model, respectively. Moreover, the order parameter for condensation maps to the RSOS order parameter. The known exact solutions of the statistical models subsequently allow us to locate the critical points of the models, and to predict the critical exponents for the order parameters from conformal field theory. We complement this by numerical study of the phase transitions, which fully confirms our theoretical predictions; remarkably, we find that both models exhibit a duality between the behavior of order parameters for condensation and deconfinement.