Quantum critical phase transition between two topologically ordered phases in the Ising toric code bilayer

Raymond Wiedmann, Lea Lenke, Matthias R. Walther, Matthias Mühlhauser, and Kai Phillip Schmidt
Phys. Rev. B 102, 214422 – Published 17 December 2020

Abstract

We demonstrate that two toric code layers on the square lattice coupled by an Ising interaction display two distinct phases with intrinsic topological order. The second-order quantum phase transition between the weakly coupled Z2×Z2 and the strongly coupled Z2 topological order can be described by the condensation of bosonic quasiparticles from both sides and belongs to the three-dimensional Ising* universality class. This can be shown by an exact duality transformation to the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, which builds on the existence of an extensive number of local Z2 conserved parities. These conserved quantities correspond to the product of two adjacent star operators on different layers. Notably, we show that the low-energy effective model derived about the limit of large Ising coupling is given by an effective single-layer toric code in terms of the conserved quantities of the Ising toric code bilayer. The two topological phases are further characterized by the topological entanglement entropy which serves as a nonlocal order parameter.

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  • Received 19 October 2020
  • Accepted 1 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.214422

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsAtomic, Molecular & OpticalStatistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Raymond Wiedmann, Lea Lenke, Matthias R. Walther, Matthias Mühlhauser, and Kai Phillip Schmidt

  • Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Physik I, Staudtstraße 7, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 21 — 1 December 2020

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