The classification and lattice model construction of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting fermion systems are very interesting but challenging. In this paper, we give a systematic fixed point wave function construction of fermionic SPT (FSPT) states for generic fermionic symmetry group
Gf=Z2f×ω2Gb which is a central extension of bosonic symmetry group
Gb (may contain time reversal symmetry) by the fermion parity symmetry group
Z2f={1,Pf}. Our construction is based on the concept of equivalence class of finite depth fermionic symmetric local unitary (FSLU) transformations and decorating symmetry domain wall picture, subjected to certain obstructions. We will also discuss the systematical construction and classification of boundary anomalous SPT (ASPT) states which leads to a trivialization of the corresponding bulk FSPT states. Thus, we conjecture that the obstruction-free and trivialization-free constructions naturally lead to a classification of FSPT phases. Each fixed-point wave function admits an exactly solvable commuting-projector Hamiltonian. We believe that our classification scheme can be generalized to point/space group symmetry as well as continuum Lie group symmetry.
We investigate (3+1)d topological orders in fermionic systems with an anomalous
Z2NF symmetry, where its
Z2F subgroup is the fermion parity. Such an anomalous symmetry arises as the discrete subgroup of the chiral U(1) symmetry of
ν copies of Weyl fermions of the same chirality. Inspired by the crystalline correspondence principle, we deform the anomalous
Z2NF symmetry of (3+1)d Weyl fermion to the anomalous
CN×Z2F symmetry. Then we microscopically construct symmetry-preserving gapped boundary states of the closely-related (4+1)d
CN×Z2F symmetry-protected topological (SPT) state (with
CN being the
N-fold rotation), whenever it is possible. In particular, for
ν=N, we show that the (3+1)d symmetric gapped state admits a topological
Z4 gauge theory description at low energy, and propose that a similar theory saturates the corresponding
Z2NF anomaly. For
N∤ν, our construction admits no topological quantum field theory (TQFT) symmetric gapped state; while for
ν=N/2, we find a non-TQFT symmetric gapped state via stacking lower-dimensional (2+1)d non-discrete-gauge-theory topological order inhomogeneously. For other values of
ν, no symmetric gapped state is possible within our construction, which is consistent with the no-go theorem by Cordova-Ohmori.
We show how
1+1-dimensional fermionic symmetry-protected topological states (SPTs, i.e., nontrivial short-range entangled gapped phases of quantum matter whose boundary exhibits 't Hooft anomaly and whose bulk cannot be deformed into a trivial tensor product state under finite-depth local unitary transformations only in the presence of global symmetries), indeed can be unwound to a trivial state by enlarging the Hilbert space via adding extra degrees of freedom and suitably extending the global symmetries. The extended projective global symmetry on the boundary can become supersymmetric in a specific sense, i.e., it contains group elements that do not commute with the fermion number parity ${(\ensuremath{-}1)}^{F}$, while the antiunitary time-reversal symmetry becomes fractionalized. This also means we can uplift and remove certain exotic fermionic anomalies (e.g., ``parity'' anomaly in time-reversal or reflection symmetry) via appropriate supersymmetry extensions in terms of group extensions. We work out explicit examples for multilayers of
1+1d Majorana fermion chains, then comment on models with Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) interactions, intrinsic fermionic gapless SPTs protected by supersymmetry, and generalizations to higher space-time dimensions via a cobordism theory.
It is well known that symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases host nontrivial 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 following 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+1)-dimensional
[(2+1)D] fermion SPTs. We focus on the root SPT phase for the symmetry group $G={Z}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{Z}_{2}^{f}$. Starting with an exactly solvable model for the bulk of this phase constructed by Tarantino and Fidkowski, we derive an effective one-dimensional (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
Z2 symmetry on this Hilbert space and find a simple three-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 conformal field theory where the
Z2 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+1)D topological superconductor protected by time-reversal symmetry
T with ${\mathcal{T}}^{2}={(\ensuremath{-}1)}^{\mathcal{F}}$.
Crystalline symmetry and time-reversal symmetry are commonly present in real superconducting materials. However, the topological classification of systems respecting these symmetries, particularly for interacting fermions, remains incomplete. In this work, we systematically classify time-reversal symmetry-protected crystalline topological superconductors in two-dimensional interacting fermionic systems using an explicit real-space construction. Among the resulting phases, we identify intrinsically interacting fermionic topological superconductors, i.e., phases that cannot be realized in either free-fermion or interacting bosonic systems. For spinless fermions with protecting symmetry group
C4×Z2T or
D4×Z2T (plus fermion parity), the intrinsic sector has a
Z4 classification. The corresponding root phases generating this
Z4 classification admit a transparent real-space construction in terms of decorated 1D blocks. These blocks are 1D fermionic symmetry-protected topological (FSPT) phases, realizable as double Majorana chains. We further find the corresponding
Z4 spinless intrinsic phases for wallpaper groups
p4,
p4m, and
p4g. We also find an additional
Z2 intrinsically interacting phase for spinless fermions with wallpaper group
pm, which is absent with the corresponding point-group symmetry alone. Moreover, these intrinsic phases naturally give rise to higher-order FSPT phases that support corner zero modes. Finally, we verify the crystalline equivalence principle for generic 2D interacting FSPT systems with both crystalline and internal symmetries.
In this paper we study gapped boundary states of
ZN bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in (4+1)d, which are characterized by mixed
ZN-gravity response, and the closely related phases protected by
CN rotation symmetry. We show that if $N\ensuremath{\notin}{2,4,8,16}$, any symmetry-preserving boundary theory is necessarily gapless for the root SPT state. We then propose a (3+1)d
Z2 gauge theory coupled to fermionic matter as a candidate boundary theory for
N=2,4,8,16, where the anomalous symmetry is implemented by invertible topological defects obtained from gauging (2+1)d chiral topological superconductors. For the
CN case, we present an explicit construction for the boundary states for
N=2,4,8,16, and argue that the construction fails for other values of
N.