We define an index for invertible phases of two-dimensional fermionic and bosonic quantum spin systems without any additional symmetry. Conjecturally, it provides a microscopic definition of an invariant related to the chiral central charge of the boundary modes
c−mod24 when the effective conformal field theory description is valid. Using this index, we prove that free fermionic systems with Chern number
νmod48=0 are in a non-trivial invertible phase.
We implement an extended version of reflection positivity (Wick-rotated unitarity) for invertible topological quantum field theories and compute the abelian group of deformation classes using stable homotopy theory. We apply these field theory considerations to lattice systems, assuming the existence and validity of low energy effective field theory approximations, and thereby produce a general formula for the group of Symmetry Protected Topological (SPT) phases in terms of Thom's bordism spectra; the only input is the dimension and symmetry group. We provide computations for fermionic systems in physically relevant dimensions. Other topics include symmetry in quantum field theories, a relativistic 10-fold way, the homotopy theory of relativistic free fermions, and a topological spin-statistics theorem.
Gapless quantum phases can become distinct when internal symmetries are enforced, in analogy with gapped symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. However, this distinction does not always lead to protected edge modes, raising the question of how the bulk-boundary correspondence is generalized to gapless cases. We propose that the spatial interface between gapless phases -- rather than their boundaries -- provides a more robust fingerprint. We show that whenever two 1+1d conformal field theories (CFTs) differ in symmetry charge assignments of local operators or twisted sectors, any symmetry-preserving spatial interface between the theories must flow to a non-invertible defect. We illustrate this general result for different versions of the Ising CFT with
Z2×Z2T symmetry, obtaining a complete classification of allowed conformal interfaces. When the Ising CFTs differ by nonlocal operator charges, the interface hosts 0+1d symmetry-breaking phases with finite-size splittings scaling as
1/L3, as well as continuous phase transitions between them. For general gapless phases differing by an SPT entangler, the interfaces between them can be mapped to conformal defects with a certain defect 't Hooft anomaly. This classification also gives implications for higher-dimensional examples, including symmetry-enriched variants of the 2+1d Ising CFT. Our results establish a physical indicator for symmetry-enriched criticality through symmetry-protected interfaces, giving a new handle on the interplay between topology and gapless phases.
This thesis gives a thorough description of the mathematical tool called reflection positivity, which can be used to prove the occurrence of phase transitions in physical models. A major result, although already known, is a theorem that gives tractable conditions on the Hamiltonian such that the Boltzmann functional is reflection positive. In this thesis, the theorem is used to give conditions on free parameters in four different models, such that the model is reflection positive with respect to certain chosen reflections. The evaluated models are (a) the antiferromagnetic quantum Heisenberg model; (b) the spin ice model; (c) the 6-vertex model and (d) the 16-vertex model. For the Heisenberg model we found that for reflections in a reflection plane there are certain parameter values such that the Boltzmann functional is reflection positive, this is an already known and published result. For the spin ice model we found that for the spin invariant reflection there is no symmetry that yields a reflection positive Boltzmann functional, this is a new result. For both the 6-vertex and 16-vertex model we showed that, for certain energy values, the Boltzmann functional is reflection positive with respect to reflections in the diagonal, which are also new results. In the case of the 16-vertex model, this boils down to checking whether or not a matrix is positive semidefinite. Using this result we showed that energy values that allow for the existence of magnetic monopoles do not yield a reflection positive Boltzmann functional. A topic for further research is investigating the occurrence of phase transitions in the models that are shown to be reflection positive, for which chessboard estimates seem to be a promising approach. Furthermore, in this thesis it was not rigorously proved that the spin ice model with a spin inverting reflection gives a reflection positive Boltzmann functional for rotational symmetry or symmetry in a reflection plane. This is believed to be true, but does require further investigation.
A large class of symmetry-protected topological phases (SPT) in boson/spin systems have been recently predicted by the group cohomology theory. In this work, we consider bosonic SPT states at least with charge symmetry [U(1) or Z
N] or spin-
Sz rotation symmetry [U(1) or Z
N] in two (2D) and three dimensions (3D) and the surface of 3D. If both are U(1), we apply external electromagnetic field/``spin gauge field'' to study the charge/spin response. For the SPT examples we consider {i.e., U
c(1)$\ensuremath{\rtimes}$Z
2T, U
s(1)$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}$Z
2T, U
c(1)$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}$[U
s(1)$\ensuremath{\rtimes}$Z
2]; subscripts
c and
s are short for charge and spin; Z
2T and Z
2 are time-reversal symmetry and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ rotation about
Sy, respectively}, many variants of Witten effect in the 3D SPT bulk and various versions of anomalous surface quantum Hall effect are defined and systematically investigated. If charge or spin symmetry reduces to Z
N by considering charge-
N or spin-
N condensate, instead of the linear response approach, we gauge the charge/spin symmetry, leading to a dynamical gauge theory with some remaining global symmetry. The 3D dynamical gauge theory describes a symmetry-enriched topological phase (SET), i.e., a topologically ordered state with global symmetry which admits nontrivial ground-state degeneracy depending on spatial manifold topology. For the SPT examples we consider, the corresponding SET states are described by dynamical topological gauge theory with topological
BF term and axionic $\ensuremath{\Theta}$ term in 3D bulk. In addition, the surface of SET is described by the chiral boson theory with quantum anomaly.