Recent vigorous investigations of topological order have not only discovered new topological states of matter, but also shed new light on “already known” topological states. One established example with topological order is the valence bond solid (VBS) states in quantum antiferromagnets. The VBS states are disordered spin liquids with no spontaneous symmetry breaking, but most typically manifest a topological order known as a hidden string order on the 1D chain. Interestingly, the VBS models are based on mathematics analogous to fuzzy geometry. We review applications of the mathematics of fuzzy supergeometry in the construction of supersymmetric versions of VBS (SVBS) states and give a pedagogical introduction of SVBS models and their properties. As concrete examples, we present detailed analysis of supersymmetric versions of SU(2) and SO(5) VBS states, i.e., UOSp(N|2) and UOSp(N|4) SVBS states, whose mathematics are closely related to fuzzy two- and four-superspheres. The SVBS states are physically interpreted as hole-doped VBS states with a superconducting property that interpolates various VBS states, depending on the value of a hole-doping parameter. The parent Hamiltonians for SVBS states are explicitly constructed, and their gapped excitations are derived within the single-mode approximation on 1D SVBS chains. Prominent features of the SVBS chains are discussed in detail, such as a generalized string order parameter and entanglement spectra. It is realized that the entanglement spectra are at least doubly degenerate, regardless of the parity of bulk (super)spins. The stability of the topological phase with supersymmetry is discussed, with emphasis on its relation to particular edge (super)spin states.

arXiv:1303.2287SymmetryApr 26, 20136 citations

An exactly solvable supersymmetric spin chain of BCN type

J. C. Barba, Federico Finkel, Artemio González-López +1 more

We construct a new exactly solvable supersymmetric spin chain related to the BCN extended root system, which includes as a particular case the BCN version of the Polychronakos–Frahm spin chain. We also introduce a supersymmetric spin dynamical model of Calogero type which yields the new chain in the large coupling limit. This connection is exploited to derive two different closed-form expressions for the chain's partition function by means of Polychronakos's freezing trick. We establish a boson–fermion duality relation for the new chain's spectrum, which is in fact valid for a large class of (not necessarily integrable) spin chains of BCN type. The exact expressions for the partition function are also used to study the chain's spectrum as a whole, showing that the level density is normally distributed even for a moderately large number of particles. We also determine a simple analytic approximation to the distribution of normalized spacings between consecutive levels which fits the numerical data with remarkable accuracy. Our results provide further evidence that spin chains of Haldane–Shastry type are exceptional integrable models, in the sense that their spacings distribution is not Poissonian, as posited by the Berry–Tabor conjecture for “generic” quantum integrable systems.

arXiv:0807.1495Nuclear Physics BAug 20, 200822 citations