The recent proposal of non-Abelian boson-fermion dualities in
2+1 dimensions, which morally relate
U(k)N to $SU{(N)}_{\ensuremath{-}k}$ Chern-Simons-matter theories, presents a new platform for exploring the landscape of non-Abelian quantum Hall states accessible from theories of Abelian composite particles. Here we focus on dualities relating theories of Abelian quantum Hall states of bosons or fermions to theories of non-Abelian ``composite fermions'' partially filling Landau levels. We show that these dualities predict special filling fractions where both Abelian and non-Abelian composite fermion theories appear capable of hosting distinct topologically ordered ground states, one Abelian and the other a non-Abelian,
U(k)2 Blok-Wen state. Rather than being in conflict with the duality, we argue that these results indicate unexpected dynamics in which the infrared and lowest Landau level limits fail to commute across the duality. In such a scenario, the non-Abelian topological order can be destabilized in favor of the Abelian ground state, suggesting the presence of a phase transition between the Abelian and non-Abelian states that is likely to be first order. We also generalize these constructions to other non-Abelian fermion-fermion dualities, in the process obtaining new derivations of a variety of paired composite fermion phases using duality, including the anti-Pfaffian state. Finally, we describe how, in multilayer constructions, excitonic pairing of the composite fermions across
N layers can also generate the family of Blok-Wen states with
U(k)2 topological order.
Applying the Jordan-Wigner transformation to spin-1/2 operators on special quasi-one dimensional paths, we show that the two-dimensional Kitaev model can be exactly mapped to a free Majorana fermion model without any redundant degrees of freedom. Via duality transformation, it can be further shown that the quantum phase transitions of the Kitaev model are described by non-local topological order parameters, which become Landau type local order parameters in the dual space. A closed relationship between conventional and topological quantum phase transitions is revealed, and the validity of conventional Landau phase transition theory with spontaneous symmetry breaking and local order parameters is also extended.
We prove sufficient conditions for Topological Quantum Order at zero and finite temperatures. The crux of the proof hinges on the existence of low-dimensional Gauge-Like Symmetries, thus providing a unifying framework based on a symmetry principle. All known examples of Topological Quantum Order display Gauge-Like Symmetries. Other systems exhibiting such symmetries include Hamiltonians depicting orbital-dependent spin exchange and Jahn-Teller effects in transition metal orbital compounds, short-range frustrated Klein spin models, and p+ip superconducting arrays. We analyze the physical consequences of Gauge-Like Symmetries (including topological terms and charges) and, most importantly, show the insufficiency of the energy spectrum, (recently defined) entanglement entropy, maximal string correlators, and fractionalization in establishing Topological Quantum Order. Duality mappings illustrate that not withstanding the existence of spectral gaps, thermal fluctuations may impose restrictions on suggested topological quantum computing schemes. Our results allow us to go beyond standard topological field theories and engineer new systems with Topological Quantum Order.