It is demonstrated that fermionic/bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases across different dimensions and symmetry classes can be organized using geometric constructions that increase dimensions and symmetry-reduction maps that change symmetry groups. Specifically, it is shown that the interacting classifications of SPT phases with and without glide symmetry fit into a short exact sequence, so that the classification with glide is constrained to be a direct sum of cyclic groups of order 2 or 4. Applied to fermionic SPT phases in the Wigner-Dyson class AII, this implies that the complete interacting classification in the presence of glide is ${\mathbb{Z}}_{4}\ensuremath{\bigoplus}{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}\ensuremath{\bigoplus}{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ in three dimensions. In particular, the hourglass-fermion phase recently realized in the band insulator KHgSb must be robust to interactions. Generalizations to spatiotemporal glide symmetries are discussed.
Abstract A number of proposals with differing predictions (e.g. Borel group cohomology, oriented cobordism, group supercohomology, spin cobordism, etc) have been made for the classification of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases. Here we treat various proposals on an equal footing and present rigorous, general results that are independent of which proposal is correct. We do so by formulating a minimalist generalized cohomology hypothesis, which is satisfied by existing proposals and captures essential aspects of SPT classification. From this hypothesis alone, formulas relating classifications in different dimensions and/or protected by different symmetry groups are derived. Our formalism is expected to work for fermionic as well as bosonic phases, Floquet as well as stationary phases, and spatial as well as on-site symmetries. As an application, we predict that the complete classification of 3D bosonic SPT phases with space group symmetry G is , where the H 1 term classifies phases beyond the Borel group cohomology proposal.
Although classification for free-fermion topological superconductors (TSC) is established, systematically understanding the classification of 3D interacting TSCs remains difficult, especially those protected by crystalline symmetries like the 230 space groups. We build up a general framework for systematically classifying 3D interacting TSCs protected by crystalline symmetries together with discrete internal symmetries. We first establish a complete classification for fermionic symmetry protected topological phases (FSPT) with purely discrete internal symmetries, which determines the crystalline case via the crystalline equivalence principle. Using domain wall decoration, we obtain classification data and formulas for generic FSPTs, what are suitable for systematic computation. The four layers of decoration data
(n1,n2,n3,ν4) characterize a 3D FSPT with symmetry
Gb×ω2Z2f, corresponding to
p+ip, Kitaev chain, complex fermion, and bosonic SPT layers. Inspired by previous works, a crucial aspect is the
p+ip layer, where classification involves two possibilities: anti-unitary and infinite-order symmetries (e.g., translation). We show the former maps to some mirror FSPT classification with the mirror plane decorated by a
p+ip superconductor, while the latter is determined by the free part of
H1(Gb,ZT), corresponding to weak TSCs. Another key point is the Kitaev chain decoration for the anti-unitary symmetries, which differs essentially from unitary ones. We explicitly obtain formulas for all three layers of decoration
(n2,n3,ν4), which are amenable to automatic computation. As an application, we classify the 230 space-group topological crystalline superconductors in interacting electronic systems.