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Reviews of Modern Physics

Colloquium : Fracton matter

Andrey Gromov, Leo Radzihovsky

Published Jan 5, 2024• 79 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Fractons are exotic excitations originally conceived as platforms for reliable quantum memories. They are characterized by highly restricted mobilities. In the continuum, they are described by tensor fields with higher gauge symmetries. In this Colloquium, the focus is on a class of duality mappings between fracton models and elasticity theory, building the reader's intuition and understanding in a more familiar setting.

DOI
10.1103/revmodphys.96.011001

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Fractons are exotic excitations originally conceived as platforms for reliable quantum memories. They are characterized by highly restricted mobilities. In the continuum, they are described by tensor fields with higher gauge symmetries. In this Colloquium, the focus is on a class of duality mappings between fracton models and elasticity theory, building the reader's intuition and understanding in a more familiar setting.
We review a burgeoning field of "fractons" -- a class of models where quasi-particles are strictly immobile or display restricted mobility that can be understood through generalized multipolar symmetries and associated conservation laws. Focusing on just a corner of this fast-growing subject, we will demonstrate how one class of such theories -- symmetric tensor and coupled-vector gauge theories surprisingly emerge from familiar elasticity of a two-dimensional quantum crystal. The disclination and dislocation crystal defects respectively map onto charges and dipoles of the fracton gauge theory. This fracton-elasticity duality leads to predictions of fractonic phases and quantum phase transitions to their descendants, that are duals of the commensurate crystal, supersolid, smectic, hexatic liquid crystals, as well as amorphous solids, quasi-crystals and elastic membranes. We show how these dual gauge theories provide a field theoretic description of quantum melting transitions through a generalized Higgs mechanism. We demonstrate how they can be equivalently constructed as gauged models with global multipole symmetries. We expect extensions of such gauge-elasticity dualities to generalized elasticity theories provide a route to discovery of new fractonic models and their potential experimental realizations.
Fracton phases constitute a new class of quantum state of matter. They are characterized by excitations that exhibit restricted mobility, being either immobile under local Hamiltonian dynamics or mobile only in certain directions. These phases do not wholly fit into any of the existing paradigms but connect to areas including glassy quantum dynamics, topological order, spin liquids, elasticity theory, quantum information theory, and gravity. We begin by discussing gapped fracton phases, which may be described using exactly solvable lattice spin models. We then introduce the framework of tensor gauge theory, which provides a powerful complementary perspective and allows us to access gapless fracton phases. We discuss the basic properties of gapless fracton phases and their connections to elasticity theory and gravity. We also discuss what is known about the dynamics and thermodynamics of fractons at nonzero density before concluding with a brief survey of some open problems.
Fractons are a new type of quasiparticle which are immobile in isolation, but can often move by forming bound states. Fractons are found in a variety of physical settings, such as spin liquids and elasticity theory, and exhibit unusual phenomenology, such as gravitational physics and localization. The past several years have seen a surge of interest in these exotic particles, which have come to the forefront of modern condensed matter theory. In this review, we provide a broad treatment of fractons, ranging from pedagogical introductory material to discussions of recent advances in the field. We begin by demonstrating how the fracton phenomenon naturally arises as a consequence of higher moment conservation laws, often accompanied by the emergence of tensor gauge theories. We then provide a survey of fracton phases in spin models, along with the various tools used to characterize them, such as the foliation framework. We discuss in detail the manifestation of fracton physics in elasticity theory, as well as the connections of fractons with localization and gravitation. Finally, we provide an overview of some recently proposed platforms for fracton physics, such as Majorana islands and hole-doped antiferromagnets. We conclude with some open questions and an outlook on the field.
Fracton emerges from strongly interacting many-body systems whose excitations, referred to as sub-dimensional particles, have restricted mobility or kinetic motions. These entities have garnered significant interest due to their interdisciplinary implications spanning topological quantum codes, quantum field theory, emergent gravity, quantum information, and more, revealing unique nonequilibrium behaviors such as nonergodicity and glassy dynamics. This review presents a structured and educational overview of fracton phenomena, specifically focusing on gapless fracton liquids. Noteworthy for their compressibility and gapless excitations, fracton liquids facilitate collective modes reminiscent of those gauge fluctuations found in Maxwell's electromagnetic framework. However, they are distinct due to an additional higher-moment conservation law that restricts the mobility of individual charges and monopoles. Our exploration begins with the theoretical foundation of 3D fracton liquids, presenting a variety of emergent symmetric tensor gauge theories and reviewing their equilibrium and dynamic properties. Following this theoretical groundwork, we discuss the material realization of various fracton liquids in Yb-based breathing pyrochlore lattices, close-packed tiling structures and other synthetic quantum matter platforms. Additionally, we introduce a general protocol to foster and manipulate emergent fracton spin liquids in the realm of frustrated magnetism.
We demonstrate the existence of a fundamentally new type of excitation, fractonic lines, which are linelike excitations with the restricted mobility properties of fractons. These excitations, described using an amalgamation of higher-form gauge theories with symmetric tensor gauge theories, see direct physical realization as the topological lattice defects of ordinary three-dimensional quantum crystals. Starting with the more familiar elasticity theory, we show how theory maps onto a rank-4 tensor gauge theory, with phonons corresponding to gapless gauge modes and disclination defects corresponding to linelike charges. We derive flux conservation laws which lock these linelike excitations in place, analogous to the higher moment charge conservation laws of fracton theories. This way of encoding mobility restrictions of lattice defects could shed light on melting transitions in three dimensions. This new type of extended object may also be a useful tool in the search for improved quantum error-correcting codes in three dimensions.