Subsystem symmetry protected topological order

Yizhi You, Trithep Devakul, F. J. Burnell, and S. L. Sondhi
Phys. Rev. B 98, 035112 – Published 10 July 2018

Abstract

In this work, we introduce a new type of topological order that is protected by subsystem symmetries that act on lower-dimensional subsets of lattice many-body system, e.g., along lines or planes in a three-dimensional system. The symmetry groups for such systems exhibit a macroscopic number of generators in the infinite-volume limit. We construct a set of exactly solvable models in 2D and 3D, which exhibit such subsystem SPT (SSPT) phases with one-dimensional subsystem symmetries. These phases exhibit analogs of phenomena seen in SPTs protected by global symmetries: gapless edge modes, projective realizations of the symmetries at the edge, and nonlocal order parameters. Such SSPT phases are proximate, in theory space, to previously studied phases that break the subsystem symmetries and phases with fracton order, which result upon gauging them.

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  • Received 12 March 2018
  • Revised 27 June 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.035112

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Yizhi You1, Trithep Devakul2, F. J. Burnell3, and S. L. Sondhi2

  • 1Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minnesota 55455, USA

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 3 — 15 July 2018

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