arXiv:1805.03659 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Projected entangled pair states with continuous virtual symmetries
Henrik Dreyer, J. I. Cirac, Norbert Schuch
Abstract
We study projected entangled pair states (PEPS) with continuous virtual symmetries, i.e., symmetries in the virtual degrees of freedom, through an elementary class of models with $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ symmetry. Discrete symmetries of that kind have previously allowed for a comprehensive explanation of topological order in the PEPS formalism. We construct local parent Hamiltonians whose ground space with open boundaries is exactly parametrized by the PEPS wave function, and show how the ground state can be made unique by a suitable choice of boundary conditions. We also find that these models exhibit a logarithmic correction to the entanglement entropy and an extensive ground space degeneracy on systems with periodic boundaries, which suggests that they do not describe conventional gapped topological phases, but either critical models or some other exotic phase.