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arXiv:2312.15958 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Category of SET orders

Tian Lan, Gen Yue, Longye Wang

Published Nov 19, 2024• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A bstract We propose the representation principle to study physical systems with a given symmetry. In the context of symmetry enriched topological orders, we give the appropriate representation category, the category of SET orders, which include SPT orders and symmetry breaking orders as special cases. For fusion n -category symmetries, we show that the category of SET orders encodes almost all information about the interplay between symmetry and topological orders, in a natural and canonical way. These information include defects and boundaries of SET orders, symmetry charges, explicit and spontaneous symmetry breaking, stacking of SET orders, gauging of generalized symmetry, as well as quantum currents (SymTFT or symmetry TO). We also provide a detailed categorical algorithm to compute the generalized gauging. In particular, we proved that gauging is always reversible, as a special type of Morita-equivalence. The explicit data for ungauging, the inverse to gauging, is given.

DOI
10.1007/jhep11(2024)111

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A bstract We propose the representation principle to study physical systems with a given symmetry. In the context of symmetry enriched topological orders, we give the appropriate representation category, the category of SET orders, which include SPT orders and symmetry breaking orders as special cases. For fusion n -category symmetries, we show that the category of SET orders encodes almost all information about the interplay between symmetry and topological orders, in a natural and canonical way. These information include defects and boundaries of SET orders, symmetry charges, explicit and spontaneous symmetry breaking, stacking of SET orders, gauging of generalized symmetry, as well as quantum currents (SymTFT or symmetry TO). We also provide a detailed categorical algorithm to compute the generalized gauging. In particular, we proved that gauging is always reversible, as a special type of Morita-equivalence. The explicit data for ungauging, the inverse to gauging, is given.
A bstract We develop a mathematical theory of symmetry protected trivial (SPT) orders and anomaly-free symmetry enriched topological (SET) orders in all dimensions via two different approaches with an emphasis on the second approach. The first approach is to gauge the symmetry in the same dimension by adding topological excitations as it was done in the 2d case, in which the gauging process is mathematically described by the minimal modular extensions of unitary braided fusion 1-categories. This 2d result immediately generalizes to all dimensions except in 1d, which is treated with special care. The second approach is to use the 1-dimensional higher bulk of the SPT/SET order and the boundary-bulk relation. This approach also leads us to a precise mathematical description and a classification of SPT/SET orders in all dimensions. The equivalence of these two approaches, together with known physical results, provides us with many precise mathematical predictions.
We study generalized discrete symmetries of quantum field theories in 1+1D generated by topological defect lines with no inverse. In particular, we describe 't Hooft anomalies and classify gapped phases stabilized by these symmetries, including new 1+1D topological phases. The algebra of these operators is not a group but rather is described by their fusion ring and crossing relations, captured algebraically as a fusion category. Such data defines a Turaev-Viro/Levin-Wen model in 2+1D, while a 1+1D system with this fusion category acting as a global symmetry defines a boundary condition. This is akin to gauging a discrete global symmetry at the boundary of Dijkgraaf-Witten theory. We describe how to "ungauge" the fusion category symmetry in these boundary conditions and separate the symmetry-preserving phases from the symmetry-breaking ones. For Tambara-Yamagami categories and their generalizations, which are associated with Kramers-Wannier-like self-dualities under orbifolding, we develop gauge theoretic techniques which simplify the analysis. We include some examples of CFTs with fusion category symmetry derived from Kramers-Wannier-like dualities as an appetizer for the Part II companion paper.
The classification of phases using categorical symmetries has greatly expanded the landscape of gapped and gapless phases. So far, however, these developments have largely been restricted to phases with unitary (higher-)categorical symmetries over C\mathbb{C}C. In this work, we incorporate anti-unitary symmetries, such as time-reversal symmetry Z2T\mathbb{Z}_2^TZ2T​, and show that the relevant physical structures are naturally described by fusion categories over R\mathbb{R}R. A class of real fusion categories, which we call Galois-real fusion categories, provides the correct categorical model for anti-unitary symmetries. A simple example is the time-reversal symmetry Z2T\mathbb{Z}_2^TZ2T​ itself. We discuss the basic structures of real fusion categories and present a range of examples, including the group-theoretical categories (GT)ω(G^T)^ω(GT)ω and Rep(GT)\mathsf{Rep}(G^T)Rep(GT) associated to anti-linear groups GTG^TGT, as well as non-invertible time-reversal symmetries described by a real analogue of Tambara--Yamagami fusion categories. We then classify gapped phases enriched with anti-linear symmetries in terms of module categories over Galois-real fusion categories. We furthermore apply the categorical formulation to prove dualities (i.e. gauge or Morita equivalences) of anti-linear symmetries generated by gauging subgroups. Complementing this, we also develop a Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) framework, in which Galois-real fusion categories arise as boundary conditions of a Z2T\mathbb{Z}_2^TZ2T​-enriched SymTFT. Morita equivalent anti-linear symmetries are shown to arise as different boundaries of the same Z2T\mathbb{Z}_2^TZ2T​-enriched SymTFT.
We investigate the algebraic theory of symmetry-enriched topological (SET) order in (2+1)D bosonic topological phases of matter and its applications to topological quantum computing. Our goal is twofold: first, to demonstrate how an abstract categorical approach can be applied to understand phenomena in (2+1)D topological phases of matter, and second, to show how ideas from physics can be useful for categorification.After reviewing modular tensor categories (MTCs) and their role as algebraic theories of anyons in topological phases of matter, we recall their associated quantum representations and their interpretation as quantum gates for a topological quantum computer. Next we recall the characterization of SET order in terms of GGG-crossed braided extensions of MTCs and the mathematical formalism of topological quantum computing (TQC) with anyons and symmetry defects.We then apply modular tensor category theory to construct algebraic models of symmetry defects in multi-layer (2+1)D topological order with layer-exchange permutation symmetry. Our main result frames a correspondence between bilayer symmetry enriched topological order and monolayer topological order on surfaces with genus, illuminating a connection between quantum symmetry and topological order that first appeared in the work of condensed matter theorists Barkeshi, Ji, and Qian.
We extend the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) framework beyond internal symmetries by including geometric data that encode spacetime symmetries. Concretely, we enrich the SymTFT of an internal symmetry by spacetime symmetries and study the resulting symmetry-enriched topological (SET) order, which captures the interplay between the spacetime and internal symmetries. We illustrate the framework by focusing on symmetries in {1+1} 1 + 1 D. To this end, we first analyze how gapped boundaries of {2+1} 2 + 1 D SETs affect the enriching symmetry, and apply this within the SymTFT framework to gauging and detecting anomalies of the {1+1} 1 + 1 D symmetry, as well as to classifying {1+1} 1 + 1 D symmetry-enriched phases. We then consider quantum spin chains and explicitly construct the SymTFTs for three prototypical spacetime symmetries: lattice translations, spatial reflections, and time reversal. For lattice translations, the interplay with internal symmetries is encoded in the SymTFT by translations permuting anyons, which causes the continuum description of the SymTFT to be a foliated field theory. Using this, we elucidate the relation between Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) anomalies and modulated symmetries and classify modulated symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. For reflection and time-reversal symmetries, the interplay can additionally be encoded by symmetry fractionalization data in the SymTFT, and we identify mixed anomalies and study gauging for such examples.
We introduce the notion of algebraic higher symmetry, which generalizes higher symmetry and is beyond higher group. We show that an algebraic higher symmetry in a bosonic system in nnn-dimensional space is characterized and classified by a local fusion nnn-category. We find another way to describe algebraic higher symmetry by restricting to symmetric sub Hilbert space where symmetry transformations all become trivial. In this case, algebraic higher symmetry can be fully characterized by a non-invertible gravitational anomaly (i.e. an topological order in one higher dimension). Thus we also refer to non-invertible gravitational anomaly as categorical symmetry to stress its connection to symmetry. This provides a holographic and entanglement view of symmetries. For a system with a categorical symmetry, its gapped state must spontaneously break part (not all) of the symmetry, and the state with the full symmetry must be gapless. Using such a holographic point of view, we obtain (1) the gauging of the algebraic higher symmetry; (2) the classification of anomalies for an algebraic higher symmetry; (3) the equivalence between classes of systems, with different (potentially anomalous) algebraic higher symmetries or different sets of low energy excitations, as long as they have the same categorical symmetry; (4) the classification of gapped liquid phases for bosonic/fermionic systems with a categorical symmetry, as gapped boundaries of a topological order in one higher dimension (that corresponds to the categorical symmetry). This classification includes symmetry protected trivial (SPT) orders and symmetry enriched topological (SET) orders with an algebraic higher symmetry.