A domain-wall pump by an extended cluster model of
S=1/2 spins is proposed with local
U(1) gauge invariance. Its snapshot ground state is gapped and doubly degenerated due to
Z2 invariance, which is broken by an infinitesimal boundary magnetic field. The ground state associated with the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) is still symmetry-protected with additional spatial inversion that is characterized by the
Z2 Berry phase. We investigate the topological domain-wall pump with/without boundaries. The topological pump associated with the inversion symmetry-breaking path induces a non-trivial Chern number of bulk and a singular behavior of edge states of the domain-wall. Generalization to the multi-spin interaction is also explicitly given.
A topological pump on an
N-leg spin ladder is discussed by introducing spatial clusterization whose adiabatic limit is a set of
2N-site staircase clusters. We set a pump path in the parameter space that connects two different symmetry protected topological phases. By introducing a symmetry breaking staggered magnetic field, the system is always gapped during the pump. In the topological pump {thus obtained}, the bulk Chern number is given by the number of the critical points enclosed by the pump path. Plateau transitions characterized by the Chern number are demonstrated associated with deformation of the pump path. We find that there are
N critical points enclosed by the pump path for the
N-leg ladder. The ground state phase diagram without symmetry breaking terms is numerically investigated by using the quantized Berry phase. We also discuss the physical picture of edge states in the diagonal boundary, and numerically demonstrate the bulk-edge correspondence for
N=2,3 cases.
We propose a general construction scheme of topological pump for correlated systems with local gauge symmetry. The bulk-edge correspondence is one of its natural consequences. As a concrete example, an
SU(Q) quantum chain associated with a local ${[U(1)]}^{\ensuremath{\bigotimes}Q}$ gauge invariance of colored fermions is discussed in detail. The
SU(Q) invariant dimer phases are characterized by the
ZQ Berry phases as a topological order parameter with a
d-dimensional twist space ($d=Q\ensuremath{-}1$) as a synthetic Brillouin zone. By inclusion of the symmetry breaking perturbation specified by a rational parameter $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Phi}}=P/Q$, the pump that encloses around the phase boundary, is characterized by the
Q Chern numbers associated with the currents due to uniform infinitesimal twists. The analysis of the systems under the open/periodic/twisted boundary conditions clarifies the bulk-edge correspondence of the pump where the large gauge transformation generated by the center-of-mass (CoM) plays a central role. An explicit formula for the Chern number is given by using the Diophantine equation. Numerical demonstrations by the exact diagonalization and the DMRG for finite systems (
Q=3,4, and 5) have been presented to confirm the general discussions for low-energy spectra, edge states, CoM's, Chern numbers, and the bulk-edge correspondence. A modified Lieb-Schultz-Mattis type argument for the general
SU(Q) quantum chain is also mentioned.
Quantum disordering a discrete-symmetry-breaking state by condensing domain walls can lead to a trivial symmetric insulator state. In this work, we show that if we bind a one-dimensional representation of the symmetry (such as a charge) to the intersection point of several domain walls, condensing such modified domain walls can lead to a nontrivial symmetry-protected topological (SPT) state. This result is obtained by showing that the modified domain-wall condensed state has a nontrivial SPT invariant, the symmetry-twist-dependent partition function. We propose two different kinds of field theories that can describe the above-mentioned SPT states. The first one is a Ginzburg-Landau--type nonlinear sigma model theory, but with an additional multikink domain-wall topological term. Such theory has an anomalous
Uk(1) symmetry but an anomaly-free
ZNk symmetry. The second one is a gauge theory, which is beyond Abelian Chern-Simons/BF gauge theories. We argue that the two field theories are equivalent at low energies. After coupling to the symmetry twists, both theories produce the desired SPT invariant.
Topological phases have greatly improved our understanding of modern conception of phases of matter that go beyond the paradigm of symmetry breaking and are not described by local order parameters. Instead, characterization of topological phases requires the robust topological invariants, whereas measuring these global quantities presents an outstanding challenge for experiments, especially in interacting systems. Here we report the real-space observation of a symmetry-protected topological phase with interacting nuclear spins, and probe the interaction-induced transition between two topologically distinct phases, both of which are classified by many-body Chern numbers obtained from the dynamical response to the external magnetic fields. The resulting value of Chern number (
Chˉ=1.958±0.070) demonstrates the robust ground state degeneracy, and also determines the number of nontrivial edge states. Our findings enable direct characterization of topological features of quantum many-body states through gradually decreasing the strength of the introduced external fields.
Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states have boundary 't Hooft anomalies that obstruct the effective boundary theory realized in its own dimension with UV completion and with an on-site G-symmetry.In this work, yet we show that a certain anomalous non-on-site G-symmetry along the boundary becomes on-site when viewed as an extended H-symmetry, via a suitable group extension 1 → K → H → G → 1. Namely, a nonperturbative global (gauge or gravitational) anomaly in G becomes anomaly free in H.This guides us to construct an exactly soluble lattice path integral and Hamiltonian of symmetric gapped boundaries applicable to any SPT state of any finite symmetry group, including on-site unitary and antiunitary time-reversal symmetries.The resulting symmetric gapped boundary can be described either by an H-symmetry extended boundary in any spacetime dimension or, more naturally, by a topological emergent K-gauge theory with a global symmetry G on a 3 þ 1D bulk or above.The excitations on such a symmetric topologically ordered boundary can carry fractional quantum numbers of the symmetry G, described by representations of H. (Applying our approach to a 1 þ 1D boundary of 2 þ 1D bulk, we find that a deconfined gauge boundary indeed has spontaneous symmetry breaking with long-range order.The deconfined symmetry-breaking phase crosses over smoothly to a confined phase without a phase transition.)In contrast to known gapped boundaries or interfaces obtained via symmetry breaking (either global symmetry breaking or the Anderson-Higgs mechanism for gauge theory), our approach is based on symmetry extension.More generally, applying our approach to SPT states, topologically ordered gauge theories, and symmetry enriched topologically ordered (SET) states leads to generic boundaries or interfaces constructed with a mixture of symmetry breaking, symmetry extension, and dynamical gauging.