Contributor info: Dr Shenghan Jiang

Shenghan Jiang, Meng Cheng, Yang Qi, Yuan-Ming Lu

SciPost Phys. 11, 024 (2021) · published 6 August 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We propose and prove a family of generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) theorems for symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases on boson/spin models in any dimensions. The "conventional" LSM theorem, applicable to e.g. any translation invariant system with an odd number of spin-1/2 particles per unit cell, forbids a symmetric short-range-entangled ground state in such a system. Here we focus on systems with no LSM anomaly, where global/crystalline symmetries and fractional spins within the unit cell ensure that any symmetric SRE ground state must be a nontrivial SPT phase with anomalous boundary excitations. Depending on models, they can be either strong or "higher-order" crystalline SPT phases, characterized by nontrivial surface/hinge/corner states. Furthermore, given the symmetry group and the spatial assignment of fractional spins, we are able to determine all possible SPT phases for a symmetric ground state, using the real space construction for SPT phases based on the spectral sequence of cohomology theory. We provide examples in one, two and three spatial dimensions, and discuss possible physical realization of these SPT phases based on condensation of topological excitations in fractionalized phases.

Shenghan Jiang, Panjin Kim, Jung Hoon Han, Ying Ran

SciPost Phys. 7, 006 (2019) · published 9 July 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The properties of ground state of spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg (KAFH) model have attracted considerable interest in the past few decades, and recent numerical simulations reported a spin liquid phase. The nature of the spin liquid phase remains unclear. For instance, the interplay between symmetries and $Z_2$ topological order leads to different types of $Z_2$ spin liquid phases. In this paper, we develop a numerical simulation method based on symmetric projected entangled-pair states (PEPS), which is generally applicable to strongly correlated model systems in two spatial dimensions. We then apply this method to study the nature of the ground state of the KAFH model. Our results are consistent with that the ground state is a $U(1)$ Dirac spin liquid rather than a $Z_2$ spin liquid.