We introduce the notion of higher Berry connection and curvature in the space of conformal boundary conditions in ( 1 + 1 ) d conformal field theories, related to each other by exactly marginal boundary deformations, forming a “boundary conformal manifold.” Our definition builds upon previous works on tensor networks, such as matrix product states, where the triple inner product or multiwavefunction overlap plays a key geometric role. On the one hand, our boundary conformal field theory formulation of higher Berry phase provides a new analytic tool to study families of invertible phases in condensed matter systems. On the other hand, it uncovers a new geometric structure on the moduli space of conformal boundary conditions, beyond the usual Riemannian structure defined through the Zamolodchikov metric. When the boundary conformal manifold has an interpretation as the position moduli space of a D-brane, our higher Berry connection coincides with the Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz (NS-NS) -field in string theory. The general definition does not require such an interpretation and is formulated purely field theoretically, in terms of correlation functions of boundary-condition-changing operators. We also explore a connection between higher Berry connections and functional Berry connections in the loop spaces of boundary conformal manifolds.
We introduce the notion of higher Berry connection and curvature in the space of conformal boundary conditions in ( 1 + 1 ) d conformal field theories, related to each other by exactly marginal boundary deformations, forming a “boundary conformal manifold.” Our definition builds upon previous works on tensor networks, such as matrix product states, where the triple inner product or multiwavefunction overlap plays a key geometric role. On the one hand, our boundary conformal field theory formulation of higher Berry phase provides a new analytic tool to study families of invertible phases in condensed matter systems. On the other hand, it uncovers a new geometric structure on the moduli space of conformal boundary conditions, beyond the usual Riemannian structure defined through the Zamolodchikov metric. When the boundary conformal manifold has an interpretation as the position moduli space of a D-brane, our higher Berry connection coincides with the Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz (NS-NS) -field in string theory. The general definition does not require such an interpretation and is formulated purely field theoretically, in terms of correlation functions of boundary-condition-changing operators. We also explore a connection between higher Berry connections and functional Berry connections in the loop spaces of boundary conformal manifolds.
In this work, we study the connection between two subjects: the space of conformal boundary conditions in boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) and the space of gapped systems characterized by higher Berry phases. We explore this connection by analyzing multi-parameter spectral flow in Dirac fermion BCFTs with continuously parametrized conformal boundary conditions, which are introduced by coupling a CFT to a family of gapped systems. When the gapped systems belong to a nontrivial higher Berry class, the associated conformal boundary conditions induce a flow of the ordinary Berry curvature, resulting in a Chern number pump in the Fock space of the BCFT. This phenomenon is the BCFT analog of Berry curvature flow in one-dimensional parametrized gapped systems, where the flow occurs in real space. Building on this correspondence, we introduce the notions of higher Berry curvature and higher Berry invariants within the BCFT framework. Our results provide a new perspective for studying the topological properties of families of conformal boundary states and gapped ground states: if a family of gapped states belongs to a nontrivial higher Berry class, then the corresponding entanglement Hamiltonians exhibit a multi-parameter spectral flow that carries Berry curvature in the Fock space.
We have gathered quite a large amount of technology to construct conformal boundary conditions and study their properties. So far, most of the tools relied on detailed knowledge of the underlying algebraic structure of conformal field theories (CFTs), such as representations of symmetry algebras and modular transformations. In almost all cases, this route will lead to a restricted class of boundary conditions only, favouring those that preserve a lot of symmetry. In “real life applications” of boundary CFT, arising in string theory, in condensed matter physics, or in the study of integrable models, we are often faced with situations where we start from a simple given boundary condition and then “deform” by “turning on perturbations”. In this chapter, we will discuss methods aimed at making this procedure well defined and at determining the perturbed boundary theory. Most of the time, we will restrict ourselves to pure boundary perturbations, which leave the bulk CFT untouched. We will sometimes be led to new boundary conditions that would have been difficult to find directly. The total space of boundary CFTs takes the form of a fibration over the moduli space of bulk theories, with the fibre over each point made up from all boundary conditions (branes) that exist for that bulk theory. Marginal boundary deformations, if they exist, will generate, starting from a single boundary condition, whole continuous families within this boundary moduli space.
In one spatial dimension, families of short-range entangled many-body quantum states, parameterized over some parameter space, can be topologically distinguished and classified by topological invariants built from the higher Berry phase---a many-body generalization of the Berry phase. Previous works identified the underlying mathematical structure (the gerbe structure) and introduced a multi-wave-function overlap, a generalization of the inner product in quantum mechanics, which allows for the extraction of the higher Berry phase and topological invariants. In this paper, building on these works, we introduce a connection, the higher Berry connection, for a family of parameterized matrix product states (MPS) over a parameter space. We demonstrate the use of our formula for simple nontrivial models.
We present a new perspective on bulk reconstruction using Berry phases in the boundary conformal field theory (CFT). Our parallel transport of modular Hamiltonians is associated to a trajectory in the space of states, which we obtain from the insertion of a source in the Euclidean path integral. Using a modular version of the extrapolate dictionary and the equivalence between modular flow in the boundary and the bulk, we show that the expectation value of the modular Berry curvature on the boundary agrees with an appropriately defined bulk symplectic form associated to the entanglement wedge. In addition, we derive a quantum information metric on the space of density matrices from the Berry curvature, which is related to the canonical energy in the bulk. We also explore the case where a state change reduces to a shape change, uncovering the coadjoint orbit structure of kinematic space in higher dimensions.
This paper is concerned with the physics of parametrized gapped quantum many-body systems, which can be viewed as a generalization of conventional topological phases of matter. In such systems, rather than considering a single Hamiltonian, one considers a family of Hamiltonians that depend continuously on some parameters. After discussing the notion of phases of parametrized systems, we formulate a bulk-boundary correspondence for an important bulk quantity, the Kapustin-Spodyneiko higher Berry curvature, first in one spatial dimension and then in arbitrary dimension. This clarifies the physical interpretation of the higher Berry curvature, which in one spatial dimension is a flow of (ordinary) Berry curvature. In d dimensions, the higher Berry curvature is a flow of $(d\ensuremath{-}1)$-dimensional higher Berry curvature. Based on this, we discuss one-dimensional systems that pump Chern number to/from spatial boundaries, resulting in anomalous boundary modes featuring isolated Weyl points. In higher dimensions, there are pumps of the analogous quantized invariants obtained by integrating the higher Berry curvature. We also discuss the consequences for parametrized systems of Kitaev's proposal that invertible phases are classified by a generalized cohomology theory, and emphasize the role of the suspension isomorphism in generating new examples of parametrized systems from known invertible phases. Finally, we present a pair of general quantum pumping constructions, based on physical pictures introduced by Kitaev, which take as input a d-dimensional parametrized system, and produce new (d+1)-dimensional parametrized systems. These constructions are useful for generating examples, and we conjecture that one of the constructions realizes the suspension isomorphism in a generalized cohomology theory of invertible phases.
Boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) is simply the study of conformal field theory (CFT) in domains with a boundary. It gains its significance because, in some ways, it is mathematically simpler: the algebraic and geometric structures of CFT appear in a more straightforward manner; and because it has important applications: in string theory in the physics of open strings and D-branes, and in condensed matter physics in boundary critical behavior and quantum impurity models. In this article, however, I describe the basic ideas from the point of view of quantum field theory, without regard to particular applications nor to any deeper mathematical formulations.