We study the electron spectral function of various zero-temperature spin-charge separated phases in two dimensions. In these phases, the electron is not a fundamental excitation of the system, but rather ``decays'' into a spin-1/2 chargeless fermion (the spinon) and a spinless charge e boson (the chargon). Using low-energy effective theories for the spinons (d-wave pairing plus possible N\'eel order) and the chargons (condensed or quantum-disordered bosons), we explore three phases of possible relevance to the cuprate superconductors: (1)
AF∗, a fractionalized antiferromagnet where the spinons are paired into a state with long-ranged N\'eel order and the chargons are 1/2-filled and (Mott) insulating; (2) the nodal liquid, a fractionalized insulator where the spinons are d-wave paired and the chargons are uncondensed; and (3) the d-wave superconductor, where the chargons are condensed and the spinons retain a d-wave gap. Working within the
Z2 gauge theory of such fractionalized phases, our results should be valid at scales below the energy gap of the vison---the basic vortex excitation in the theory. However, on a phenomenological level, our results should apply to any spin-charge separated system where the excitations have these low-energy effective forms. Comparison with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data in the undoped, pseudogapped, and superconducting regions is made.
We introduce a spin ladder with discrete symmetries designed to emulate a two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson system at half-filling. Using global properties, such as the structure of topological defects, we establish a correspondence between the two systems and construct a dictionary of symmetries and operators. In particular, translation invariance leads to Lieb-Schultz-Mattis constraints for both systems, resulting in exotic deconfined quantum critical points. Subsequently, we study the spin ladder in detail. An exact duality transformation maps it onto a
Z2 gauge theory of three partons, analogous to the U(1) gauge theory of chargons and spinons in two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson systems. With the mapping between spins and partons, we construct exactly solvable models for all pertinent symmetry-breaking phases and analyze their transitions. We further make connections between our exact analysis and conventional parton gauge theories.
We develop a new theoretical framework for describing and analyzing exotic phases of strongly correlated electrons which support excitations with fractional quantum numbers. Starting with a class of microscopic models believed to capture much of the essential physics of the cuprate superconductors, we derive a new gauge theory---based upon a discrete Ising or
Z2 symmetry---which interpolates naturally between an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator and a conventional d-wave superconductor. We explore the intervening regime, and demonstrate the possible existence of an exotic fractionalized insulator, the nodal liquid, as well as various more conventional insulating phases exhibiting broken lattice symmetries. A crucial role is played by vortex configurations in the
Z2 gauge field. Fractionalization is obtained if they are uncondensed. Within the insulating phases, the dynamics of these
Z2 vortices in two dimensions is described, after a duality transformation, by an Ising model in a transverse field, the Ising spins representing the
Z2 vortices. The presence of an unusual Berry's phase term in the gauge theory leads to a doping-dependent ``frustration'' in the dual Ising model, being fully frustrated at half filling. The
Z2 gauge theory is readily generalized to a variety of different situations, in particular, it can also describe three-dimensional insulators with fractional quantum numbers. We point out that the mechanism of fractionalization for
d>1 is distinct from the well-known one-dimensional spin--charge separation. Other interesting results include a description of an exotic fractionalized superconductor in two or higher dimensions.
We demonstrate that spin-charge separation can occur in two dimensions and note its confluence with superconductivity, topology, gauge theory, and fault-tolerant quantum computation. We construct a microscopic Ising-like model and, at a special coupling constant value, find its exact ground state as well as neutral spin-
21 (spinon), spinless charge e (holon), and
Z2 vortex (vison) states and energies. The fractionalized excitations reflect the topological order of the ground state which is evinced by its fourfold degeneracy on the torus---a degeneracy which is unrelated to translational or rotational symmetry---and is described by a
Z2 gauge theory. A magnetic moment coexists with the topological order. Our model is a member of a family of topologically ordered models, one of which is integrable and realizes the toric quantum error correction code but does not conserve any component of the spin. We relate our model to a dimer model which could be a spin
SU(2) symmetric realization of topological order and its concomitant quantum number fractionalization.
Quantum fluctuations of the Néel state of the square lattice antiferromagnet are usually described by a CP 1 theory of bosonic spinons coupled to a U(1) gauge field, and with a global SU(2) spin rotation symmetry.Such a theory also has a confining phase with valence bond solid (VBS) order, and upon including spin-singlet charge-2 Higgs fields, deconfined phases with Z 2 topological order possibly intertwined with discrete broken global symmetries.We present dual theories of the same phases starting from a mean-field theory of fermionic spinons moving in π flux in each square lattice plaquette.Fluctuations about this π-flux state are described by (2 þ 1)-dimensional quantum chromodynamics (QCD 3 ) with a SU(2) gauge group and N f ¼ 2 flavors of massless Dirac fermions.It has recently been argued by Wang et al. [Deconfined Quantum Critical Points: Symmetries and Dualities, Phys. Rev. X 7, 031051 (2017).]that this QCD 3 theory describes the Néel-VBS quantum phase transition.We introduce adjoint Higgs fields in QCD 3 and obtain fermionic dual descriptions of the phases with Z 2 topological order obtained earlier using the bosonic CP 1 theory.We also present a fermionic spinon derivation of the monopole Berry phases in the U(1) gauge theory of the VBS state.The global phase diagram of these phases contains multicritical points, and our results imply new boson-fermion dualities between critical gauge theories of these points.
Topological phases of matter are usually realized in deconfined phases of gauge theories. In this context, confined phases with strongly fluctuating gauge fields seem to be irrelevant to the physics of topological phases. For example, the low-energy theory of the two-dimensional (2D) toric code model (i.e., the deconfined phase of
Z2 gauge theory) is a $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ Chern-Simons theory in which gauge charges (i.e.,
e and
m particles) are deconfined and the gauge fields are gapped, while the confined phase is topologically trivial. In this paper, we point out a route to constructing exotic three-dimensional (3D) gapped fermionic phases in a confining phase of a gauge theory. Starting from a parton construction with strongly fluctuating compact $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ gauge fields, we construct gapped phases of interacting fermions by condensing two linearly independent bosonic composite particles consisting of partons and $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ magnetic monopoles. This can be regarded as a 3D generalization of the 2D Bais-Slingerland condensation mechanism. Charge fractionalization results from a Debye-H\"uckel--type screening cloud formed by the condensed composite particles. Within our general framework, we explore two aspects of symmetry-enriched 3D Abelian topological phases. First, we construct a new fermionic state of matter with time-reversal symmetry and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Theta}}\ensuremath{\ne}\ensuremath{\pi}$, the fractional topological insulator. Second, we generalize the notion of anyonic symmetry of 2D Abelian topological phases to the charge-loop excitation symmetry (
Charles) of 3D Abelian topological phases. We show that line twist defects, which realize
Charles transformations, exhibit non-Abelian fusion properties.