The authors employ a Tree Tensor Network algorithm to identify the ground state of hard-core bosons in a Harper-Hofstdater model. For this fractional Chern insulator state, the paper shows that both the fractional charge and the anyonic nature of the quasihole excitations can be inspected through local density measurements. This makes the proposal readily applicable for state-of-the-art experiments with ultracold atoms or superconducting qubits.
The authors employ a Tree Tensor Network algorithm to identify the ground state of hard-core bosons in a Harper-Hofstdater model. For this fractional Chern insulator state, the paper shows that both the fractional charge and the anyonic nature of the quasihole excitations can be inspected through local density measurements. This makes the proposal readily applicable for state-of-the-art experiments with ultracold atoms or superconducting qubits.
We numerically investigate the properties of the quasihole excitations above the bosonic fractional Chern insulator state at filling nu = 1/2, in the specific case of the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian with hard-core interactions. For this purpose, we employ a tree tensor network technique, which allows us to study systems with up to N = 18 particles on a 16 x 16 lattice and experiencing an additional harmonic confinement. First, we observe the quantization of the quasihole charge at fractional values and its robustness against the shape and strength of the impurity potentials used to create and localize such excitations. Then, we numerically characterize quasihole anyonic statistics by applying a discretized version of the relation connecting the statistics of quasiholes in the lowest Landau level to the depletions they create in the density profile [E. Macaluso et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 266801 (2019)]. Our results give a direct proof of the anyonic statistics for quasiholes of fractional Chern insulators, starting from a realistic Hamiltonian. Moreover, they provide strong indications that this property can be experimentally probed through local density measurements, making our scheme readily applicable in state-of-the-art experiments with ultracold atoms and superconducting qubits.
Realizing strongly correlated topological phases of ultracold gases is a central goal for ongoing experiments. While fractional quantum Hall states could soon be implemented in small atomic ensembles, detecting their signatures in few-particle settings remains a fundamental challenge. In this work, we numerically analyze the center-of-mass Hall drift of a small ensemble of hardcore bosons, initially prepared in the ground state of the Harper-Hofstadter-Hubbard model in a box potential. By monitoring the Hall drift upon release, for a wide range of magnetic flux values, we identify an emergent Hall plateau compatible with a fractional Chern insulator state: The extracted Hall conductivity approaches a fractional value determined by the many-body Chern number, while the width of the plateau agrees with the spectral and topological properties of the prepared ground state. Besides, a direct application of Streda's formula indicates that such Hall plateaus can also be directly obtained from static density-profile measurements. Our calculations suggest that fractional Chern insulators can be detected in cold-atom experiments, using available detection methods.
The experimental realization of the Harper-Hofstadter model in ultracold atomic gases has placed fractional states of matter in these systems within reach-a fractional Chern insulator state (FCI) is expected to emerge for sufficiently strong interactions when half-filling the lowest band. The experimental setups naturally allow us to probe the dynamics of this topological state; yet little is known about its out-of-equilibrium properties. We explore, using density matrix renormalization group simulations, the response of the FCI state to spatially localized perturbations. After confirming the static properties of the phase we show that the characteristic, gapless features are clearly visible in the edge dynamics. We find that a local edge perturbation in this model propagates chirally independent of the perturbation strength. This contrasts the behavior of single particle models with counterpropagating edge states, such as the noninteracting Harper-Hofstadter model, where the chirality is manifest only for weak perturbations. Additionally, our simulations show that there is inevitable density leakage from the first row of sites into the bulk, preventing a naive chiral Luttinger theory interpretation of the dynamics.
Given a microscopic lattice Hamiltonian for a topologically ordered phase, we propose a numerical approach to characterize its emergent anyon model and, in a chiral phase, also its gapless edge theory. First, a tensor network representation of a complete, orthonormal set of ground states on a cylinder of infinite length and finite width is obtained through numerical optimization. Each of these ground states is argued to have a different anyonic flux threading through the cylinder. Then a quasiorthogonal basis on the torus is produced by chopping off and reconnecting the tensor network representation on the cylinder. From these two bases, and by using a number of previous results, most notably the recent proposal of Y. Zhang et al. [Phys. Rev. B 85, 235151 (2012)] to extract the modular U and S matrices, we obtain (i) a complete list of anyon types i, together with (ii) their quantum dimensions d(i) and total quantum dimension D, (iii) their fusion rules N(ij)(k), (iv) their mutual statistics, as encoded in the off-diagonal entries S(ij) of S, (v) their self-statistics or topological spins θ(i), (vi) the topological central charge c of the anyon model, and, in a chiral phase (vii) the low energy spectrum of each sector of the boundary conformal field theory. As a concrete application, we study the hard-core boson Haldane model by using the two-dimensional density matrix renormalization group. A thorough characterization of its universal bulk and edge properties unambiguously shows that it realizes a ν=1/2 bosonic fractional quantum Hall state.
We show via tensor network methods that the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian for hard-core bosons on a square geometry supports a topological phase realizing the $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{2}$ fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect on the lattice. We address the robustness of the ground-state degeneracy and of the energy gap, measure the many-body Chern number, and characterize the system using Green functions, showing that they decay algebraically at the edges of open geometries, indicating the presence of gapless edge modes. Moreover, we estimate the topological entanglement entropy by taking a combination of lattice bipartitions that reproduces the topological structure of the original proposals by Kitaev and Preskill [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 110404 (2006)] and Levin and Wen [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 110405 (2006)]. The numerical results show that the topological contribution is compatible with the expected value $\ensuremath{\gamma}=\frac{1}{2}$. Our results provide extensive evidence that FQH states are within reach of state-of-the-art cold-atom experiments.
We perform an exact-diagonalization study of quasihole excitations for the two-component Halperin (221) state in the lowest Landau level and for several $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ bosonic fractional Chern insulators in topological flat bands with Chern number ∣C∣=2. Properties including the quasihole size, charge, and braiding statistics are evaluated. For the Halperin (221) model state, we observe isotropic quasiholes with a clear internal structure, and obtain the quasihole charge and statistics matching the theoretical values. Interestingly, we also extract the same quasihole size, charge, and braiding statistics for the continuum model states of ∣C∣=2 fractional Chern insulators, although the latter possess a ``color-entangled'' nature that does not exist in ordinary two-component Halperin states. We also consider two real lattice models with a band having ∣C∣=2. There we find that a quasihole can exhibit much stronger oscillations of the density profile, while having the same charge and statistics as those in the continuum models.