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arXiv:2410.19938

Lattice models from CFT on surfaces with holes II: Cloaking boundary conditions and loop models

Enrico M. Brehm, Ingo Runkel B

Published Oct 25, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper we continue to investigate the lattice models obtained from 2d CFTs via the construction introduced in [arXiv:2112.01563]. On the side of the 2d CFT we consider the cloaking boundary condition relative to a fixed fusion category F of topological line defects. The resulting lattice model realises the topological symmetry F exactly. We compute the state spaces and Boltzmann weights of these lattice model in the example of unitary Virasoro minimal models. We work directly with amplitudes, rather than with normalised correlators, and we provide a careful treatment of the Weyl anomaly factor in terms of the Liouville action. We numerically evaluate the Ising CFT on the torus with one hole and cloaking boundary condition in two channels, and illustrate in this example that the anomaly factors are essential to obtain matching results for the amplitudes. We show that lattice models obtained from Virasoro minimal models at lowest non-trivial cutoff can be exactly mapped to loop models. This provides a first non-trivial check that our lattice models can contain the 2d CFT they were constructed from in their phase diagram, and we propose a condition on the cloaking boundary condition for F under which we expect this to happen in general.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2410.19938

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In this paper we continue to investigate the lattice models obtained from 2d CFTs via the construction introduced in [arXiv:2112.01563]. On the side of the 2d CFT we consider the cloaking boundary condition relative to a fixed fusion category F of topological line defects. The resulting lattice model realises the topological symmetry F exactly. We compute the state spaces and Boltzmann weights of these lattice model in the example of unitary Virasoro minimal models. We work directly with amplitudes, rather than with normalised correlators, and we provide a careful treatment of the Weyl anomaly factor in terms of the Liouville action. We numerically evaluate the Ising CFT on the torus with one hole and cloaking boundary condition in two channels, and illustrate in this example that the anomaly factors are essential to obtain matching results for the amplitudes. We show that lattice models obtained from Virasoro minimal models at lowest non-trivial cutoff can be exactly mapped to loop models. This provides a first non-trivial check that our lattice models can contain the 2d CFT they were constructed from in their phase diagram, and we propose a condition on the cloaking boundary condition for F under which we expect this to happen in general.
Abstract We construct a one-parameter family of lattice models starting from a two-dimensional rational conformal field theory on a torus with a regular lattice of holes, each of which is equipped with a conformal boundary condition. The lattice model is obtained by cutting the surface into triangles with clipped-off edges using open channel factorisation. The parameter is given by the hole radius. At finite radius, high energy states are suppressed and the model is effectively finite. In the zero-radius limit, it recovers the CFT amplitude exactly. In the touching hole limit, one obtains a topological field theory. If one chooses a special conformal boundary condition which we call ‘cloaking boundary condition’, then for each value of the radius the fusion category of topological line defects of the CFT is contained in the lattice model. The fact that the full topological symmetry of the initial CFT is realised exactly is a key feature of our lattice models. We provide an explicit recursive procedure to evaluate the interaction vertex on arbitrary states. As an example, we study the lattice model obtained from the Ising CFT on a torus with one hole, decomposed into two lattice cells. We numerically compare the truncated lattice model to the CFT expression obtained from expanding the boundary state in terms of the hole radius and we find good agreement at intermediate values of the radius.
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.
Topological defects in two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) are canonical examples of generalized symmetries in quantum field theories. They not only encode key features of the underlying theory, but their study has also enhanced our understanding of renormalization group (RG) flows in theories that contain them. Lattice models exist which discretize the states, energy-momentum tensor, and primary fields of many 2D CFTs, raising the natural question of whether topological defects can be similarly discretized. In this thesis, we demonstrate that in many cases all topological defects of minimal model CFTs can be discretized, enabling analytical and ab-initio numerical computations of their properties. In some of these constructions, we make essential use of the integrable structure of the underlying lattice models. The lattice realization of these operators also permits the study of defect RG flows between CFTs with different topological defects inserted. These topological defects and defect RG flows are realized on the lattice not only for Hermitian but also for non-Hermitian lattice Hamiltonians. Studying topological defects in minimal model CFTs on the lattice has also opened the door to a deeper understanding of topological defects in CFTs where they remain poorly understood.
We construct topological defects in two-dimensional classical lattice models and quantum chains. The defects satisfy local commutation relations guaranteeing that the partition function is independent of their path. These relations and their solutions are extended to allow defect lines to fuse, branch and satisfy all the properties of a fusion category. We show how the two-dimensional classical lattice models and their topological defects are naturally described by boundary conditions of a Turaev-Viro-Barrett-Westbury partition function. These defects allow Kramers-Wannier duality to be generalized to a large class of models, explaining exact degeneracies between non-symmetry-related ground states as well as in the low-energy spectrum. They give a precise and general notion of twisted boundary conditions and the universal behaviour under Dehn twists. Gluing a topological defect to a boundary yields linear identities between partition functions with different boundary conditions, allowing ratios of the universal g-factor to be computed exactly on the lattice. We develop this construction in detail in a variety of examples, including the Potts, parafermion and height models.
Abstract In this paper and its sequel, we construct topologically invariant defects in two-dimensional classical lattice models and quantum spin chains. We show how defect lines commute with the transfer matrix/Hamiltonian when they obey the defect commutation relations , cousins of the Yang–Baxter equation. These relations and their solutions can be extended to allow defect lines to branch and fuse, again with properties depending only on topology. In this part I, we focus on the simplest example, the Ising model. We define lattice spin-flip and duality defects and their branching, and prove they are topological. One useful consequence is a simple implementation of Kramers–Wannier duality on the torus and higher genus surfaces by using the fusion of duality defects. We use these topological defects to do simple calculations that yield exact properties of the conformal field theory describing the continuum limit. For example, the shift in momentum quantization with duality-twisted boundary conditions yields the conformal spin 1/16 of the chiral spin field. Even more strikingly, we derive the modular transformation matrices explicitly and exactly.
1d lattice models for the boundary of 2d "Majorana" fermion SPTs: Kramers-Wannier duality as an exact Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry
It is well known that symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases host non-trivial boundaries that cannot be mimicked in a lower-dimensional system with a conventional realization of symmetry. However, for SPT phases of bosons (fermions) within the cohomology (supercohomology) classification the boundary can be recreated without the bulk at the cost of a non-onsite symmetry action. This raises the question: can one also mimic the boundaries of SPT phases which lie outside the (super)cohomology classification? In this paper, we study this question in the context of 2+1D fermion SPTs. We focus on the root SPT phase for the symmetry group G=Z2×Z2fG =Z_2 \times Z^f_2G=Z2​×Z2f​. Starting with an exactly solvable model for the bulk of this phase constructed by Tarantino and Fidkowski, we derive an effective 1d lattice model for the boundary. Crucially, the Hilbert space of this 1d model does not have a local tensor product structure, but rather is obtained by placing a local constraint on a local tensor product Hilbert space. We derive the action of the Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry on this Hilbert space and find a simple 3-site Hamiltonian that respects this symmetry. We study this Hamiltonian numerically using exact diagonalization and DMRG and find strong evidence that it realizes an Ising CFT where the Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry acts as the Kramers-Wannier duality; this is the expected stable gapless boundary state of the present SPT. A simple modification of our construction realizes the boundary of the 2+1D topological superconductor protected by time-reversal symmetry T{\cal T}T with T2=(−1)F{\cal T}^2 = (-1)^{\cal F}T2=(−1)F.