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arXiv:2204.05940 · Communications in Mathematical Physics

Matrix Product Operator Algebras I: Representations of Weak Hopf Algebras and Projected Entangled Pair States

András Molnár, Alberto Ruiz-de-Alarcón, José Garre-Rubio, Norbert Schuch, J. I. Cirac, David Pérez-Garcı́a

Published Aug 28, 2026• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1007/s00220-026-05670-w

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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.
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 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.
Abstract We introduce a framework to define coalgebra and bialgebra structures on two-dimensional (2D) square lattices, extending the algebraic theory of Hopf algebras and quantum groups beyond the one-dimensional (1D) setting. Our construction is based on defining 2D coproducts through horizontal and vertical maps that satisfy compatibility and associativity conditions, enabling the consistent growth of vector spaces over lattice sites. We present several examples of 2D bialgebras, including group-like and Lie algebra-inspired constructions and a quasi-1D coproduct instance that is applicable to Taft-Hopf algebras and to quantum groups. The approach is further applied to the quantum group U q [ s u ( 2 ) ] , for which we construct 2D generalizations of its generators, analyze q -deformed singlet states, and derive a 2D R-matrix satisfying an intertwining relation in the semiclassical limit. Additionally, we show how tensor network states, particularly projected entangled pair states, naturally induce 2D coalgebra structures when supplemented with appropriate boundary conditions. Our results establish a local and algebraically consistent method to embed quantum group symmetries into higher-dimensional lattice systems, potentially connecting to the emerging theory of fusion 2-categories and categorical symmetries in quantum many-body physics.
The classification of topological phases of matter is fundamental to understand and characterize the properties of quantum materials. In this paper we study phases of matter in one-dimensional open quantum systems. We define two mixed states to be in the same phase if both states can be transformed into the other by a shallow circuit of local quantum channels. We aim to understand the phase diagram of matrix product density operators that are renormalization fixed points. These states arise, for example, as boundaries of two-dimensional topologically ordered states. We first construct families of such states based on C*-weak Hopf algebras, the algebras whose representations form a fusion category. More concretely, we provide explicit local fine-graining and local coarse-graining quantum channels for the renormalization procedure of these states. Finally, we prove that those arising from C*-Hopf algebras are in the trivial phase.
Projected entangled pair states (PEPS) provide a natural ansatz for the ground states of gapped, local Hamiltonians in which global characteristics of a quantum state are encoded in properties of local tensors. We develop a framework to describe onsite symmetries, as occurring in systems exhibiting symmetry-protected topological (SPT) quantum order, in terms of virtual symmetries of the local tensors expressed as a set of matrix product operators (MPOs) labeled by distinct group elements. These MPOs describe the possibly anomalous symmetry of the edge theory, whose local degrees of freedom are concretely identified in a PEPS. A classification of SPT phases is obtained by studying the obstructions to continuously deforming one set of MPOs into another, recovering the results derived for fixed-point models [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. B 87, 155114 (2013)]. Our formalism accommodates perturbations away from fixed-point models, opening the possibility of studying phase transitions between different SPT phases. We also demonstrate that applying the recently developed quantum state gauging procedure to a SPT PEPS yields a PEPS with topological order determined by the initial symmetry MPOs. The MPO framework thus unifies the different approaches to classifying SPT phases, via fixed-point models, boundary anomalies, or gauging the symmetry, into the single problem of classifying inequivalent sets of matrix product operator symmetries that are defined purely in terms of a PEPS.
We present a method of extracting information about topological order from the ground state of a strongly correlated two-dimensional system represented by an infinite projected entangled pair state (iPEPS). As in previous works [A. Francuz et al., Phys. Rev. B 101, 041108(R) (2020) and A. Francuz and J. Dziarmaga, Phys. Rev. B 102, 235112 (2020)] we begin by determining symmetries of the iPEPS represented by infinite matrix product operators (iMPO) that map between the different iPEPS transfer matrix fixed points, to which we apply the fundamental theorem of matrix product states to find zipper tensors between products of iMPO's that encode fusion properties of the anyons. The zippers can be combined to extract topological FFF symbols of the underlying fusion category, which unequivocally identifies the topological order of the ground state. We bring the FFF symbols to the canonical gauge, and also compute the Drinfeld center of this unitary fusion category to extract the topological SSS and TTT matrices encoding mutual statistics and self-statistics of the emergent anyons. The algorithm is applied to Abelian toric code, Kitaev model, double semion, and twisted quantum double of Z3{Z}_{3}Z3​, as well as to non-Abelian double Fibonacci, double Ising, and quantum double of S3{S}_{3}S3​ and Rep(S3)\mathrm{Rep}({S}_{3})Rep(S3​) string-net models.