Topological characterization of fractional quantum Hall ground states from microscopic Hamiltonians

Universal Features of Entanglement Entropy in the Honeycomb Hubbard Model

The entanglement entropy is a unique probe to reveal universal features of strongly interacting many-body systems. In two or more dimensions these features are subtle, and detecting them numerically requires extreme precision, a notoriously difficult task. This is especially challenging in models of interacting fermions, where many such universal features have yet to be observed. In this Letter we tackle this challenge by introducing a new method to compute the Rényi entanglement entropy in auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations, where we treat the entangling region itself as a stochastic variable. We demonstrate the efficiency of this method by extracting, for the first time, universal subleading logarithmic terms in a two-dimensional model of interacting fermions, focusing on the half-filled honeycomb Hubbard model at T=0. We detect the universal corner contribution due to gapless fermions throughout the Dirac semi-metal phase and at the Gross-Neveu-Yukawa critical point, where the latter shows a pronounced enhancement depending on the type of entangling cut. Finally, we observe the universal Goldstone mode contribution in the antiferromagnetic Mott insulating phase.

Energy Gap of the Even-Denominator Fractional Quantum Hall State in Bilayer Graphene

Bernal bilayer graphene hosts even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states thought to be described by a Pfaffian wave function with non-Abelian quasiparticle excitations. Here, we report the quantitative determination of fractional quantum Hall energy gaps in bilayer graphene using both thermally activated transport and by direct measurement of the chemical potential. We find a transport activation gap of 5.1 K at B=12  T for a half filled N=1 Landau level, consistent with density matrix renormalization group calculations for the Pfaffian state. However, the measured thermodynamic gap of 11.6 K is smaller than theoretical expectations for the clean limit by approximately a factor of 2. We analyze the chemical potential data near fractional filling within a simplified model of a Wigner crystal of fractional quasiparticles with long-wavelength disorder, explaining this discrepancy. Our results quantitatively establish bilayer graphene as a robust platform for probing the non-Abelian anyons expected to arise as the elementary excitations of the even-denominator state.

Extracting Higher Central Charge from a Single Wave Function

A (2+1)D topologically ordered phase may or may not have a gappable edge, even if its chiral central charge c_{-} is vanishing. Recently, it was discovered that a quantity regarded as a "higher" version of chiral central charge gives a further obstruction beyond c_{-} to gapping out the edge. In this Letter, we show that the higher central charges can be characterized by the expectation value of the partial rotation operator acting on the wave function of the topologically ordered state. This allows us to extract the higher central charge from a single wave function, which can be evaluated on a quantum computer. Our characterization of the higher central charge is analytically derived from the modular properties of edge conformal field theory, as well as the numerical results with the ν=1/2 bosonic Laughlin state and the non-Abelian gapped phase of the Kitaev honeycomb model, which corresponds to U(1)_{2} and Ising topological order, respectively. The Letter establishes a numerical method to obtain a set of obstructions to the gappable edge of (2+1)D bosonic topological order beyond c_{-}, which enables us to completely determine if a (2+1)D bosonic Abelian topological order has a gappable edge or not. We also point out that the expectation values of the partial rotation on a single wave function put a constraint on the low-energy spectrum of the bulk-boundary system of (2+1)D bosonic topological order, reminiscent of the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis-type theorems.

Complete Crystalline Topological Invariants from Partial Rotations in (2+1)D Invertible Fermionic States and Hofstadter's Butterfly

The theory of topological phases of matter predicts invariants protected only by crystalline symmetry, yet it has been unclear how to extract these from microscopic calculations in general. Here, we show how to extract a set of many-body invariants {Θ_{o}^{±}}, where o is a high symmetry point, from partial rotations in (2+1)D invertible fermionic states. Our results apply in the presence of magnetic field and Chern number C≠0, in contrast to previous work. {Θ_{o}^{±}} together with C, chiral central charge c_{-}, and filling ν provide a complete many-body characterization of the topological state with symmetry group G=U(1)×_{ϕ}[Z^{2}⋊Z_{M}]. Moreover, all these many-body invariants can be obtained from a single bulk ground state, without inserting additional defects. We perform numerical computations on the square lattice Hofstadter model. Remarkably, these match calculations from conformal and topological field theory, where G-crossed modular S, T matrices of symmetry defects play a crucial role. Our results provide additional colorings of Hofstadter's butterfly, extending recently discovered colorings by the discrete shift and quantized charge polarization.

Theory of the Kitaev model in a [111] magnetic field

Recent numerical studies indicate that the antiferromagnetic Kitaev honeycomb lattice model undergoes a magnetic-field-induced quantum phase transition into a new spin-liquid phase. This intermediate-field phase has been previously characterized as a gapless spin liquid. By implementing a recently developed variational approach based on the exact fractionalized excitations of the zero-field model, we demonstrate that the field-induced spin liquid is gapped and belongs to Kitaev’s 16-fold way. Specifically, the low-field non-Abelian liquid with Chern number C = ±1 transitions into an Abelian liquid with C = ±4. The critical field and the field-dependent behaviors of key physical quantities are in good quantitative agreement with published numerical results. Furthermore, we derive an effective field theory for the field-induced critical point which readily explains the ostensibly gapless nature of the intermediate-field spin liquid.

Four-Spin Terms and the Origin of the Chiral Spin Liquid in Mott Insulators on the Triangular Lattice

At strong repulsion, the triangular-lattice Hubbard model is described by s=1/2 spins with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions and exhibits conventional 120° order. Using the infinite density matrix renormalization group and exact diagonalization, we study the effect of the additional four-spin interactions naturally generated from the underlying Mott-insulator physics of electrons as the repulsion decreases. Although these interactions have historically been connected with a gapless ground state with emergent spinon Fermi surface, we find that, at physically relevant parameters, they stabilize a chiral spin liquid (CSL) of Kalmeyer-Laughlin (KL) type, clarifying observations in recent studies of the Hubbard model. We then present a self-consistent solution based on a mean-field rewriting of the interaction to obtain a Hamiltonian with similarities to the parent Hamiltonian of the KL state, providing a physical understanding for the origin of the CSL.

Topological Interface between Pfaffian and Anti-Pfaffian Order in ν=5/2 Quantum Hall Effect

A recent thermal Hall experiment triggered renewed interest in the problem of ν=5/2 quantum Hall effect, which motivated novel interpretations based on the formation of mesoscopic puddles made of Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian topological orders. Here, we study an interface between the Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states, which may play crucial roles in thermal transport, by means of state-of-the-art, density-matrix renormalization group simulations. We demonstrate that an intrinsic electric dipole moment emerges at the interface, similar to the "p-n" junction sandwiched between N-type and P-type semiconductor. Importantly, we elucidate the topological origin of this dipole moment, whose formation is to counterbalance the mismatch of guiding-center Hall viscosity of bulk Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states. In addition, these results imply that the formation of a dipole moment could be helpful to stabilize the puddles made of Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states in experimental conditions.

Tensor Network Representations of Parton Wave Functions

Tensor network states and parton wave functions are two pivotal methods for studying quantum many-body systems. This work connects these two subjects as we demonstrate that a variety of parton wave functions, such as projected Fermi sea and projected fermionic or bosonic paired states, can be represented exactly as tensor networks. The results can be compressed into matrix product states with moderate bond dimensions so various physical quantities can be computed efficiently. For the projected Fermi sea, we develop an excellent compression scheme with high fidelity using maximally localized Wannier orbitals. Numerical calculations on two parton wave functions demonstrate that our method exceeds commonly adopted Monte Carlo methods in some aspects. It produces energy and correlation function with very high accuracy that is difficult to achieve using Monte Carlo method. The entanglement measures that were almost impossible to compute before can also be obtained easily using our method.

Variational Ansatz for an Abelian to Non-Abelian Topological Phase Transition in ν=1/2+1/2 Bilayers

We propose a one-parameter variational ansatz to describe the tunneling-driven Abelian to non-Abelian transition in bosonic ν=1/2+1/2 fractional quantum Hall bilayers. This ansatz, based on exact matrix product states, captures the low-energy physics all along the transition and allows us to probe its characteristic features. The transition is continuous, characterized by the decoupling of antisymmetric degrees of freedom. We futhermore determine the tunneling strength above which non-Abelian statistics should be observed experimentally. Finally, we propose to engineer the interlayer tunneling to create an interface trapping a neutral chiral Majorana fermion. We microscopically characterize such an interface using a slightly modified model wave function.

Microscopic study of the Halperin-Laughlin interface through matrix product states

Interfaces between topologically distinct phases of matter reveal a remarkably rich phenomenology. We study the experimentally relevant interface between a Laughlin phase at filling factor ν = 1/3 and a Halperin 332 phase at filling factor ν = 2/5. Based on our recent construction of chiral topological interfaces (Nat. Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09168-z ; 2019), we study a family of model wavefunctions that captures both the bulk and interface properties. These model wavefunctions are built within the matrix product state framework. The validity of our approach is substantiated through extensive comparisons with exact diagonalization studies. We probe previously unreachable features of the low energy physics of the transition. We provide, amongst other things, the characterization of the interface gapless mode and the identification of the spin and charge excitations in the many-body spectrum. The methods and tools presented are applicable to a broad range of topological interfaces.

Model states for a class of chiral topological order interfaces

Interfaces between topologically distinct phases of matter reveal a remarkably rich phenomenology. To go beyond effective field theories, we study the prototypical example of such an interface between two Abelian states, namely the Laughlin and Halperin states. Using matrix product states, we propose a family of model wavefunctions for the whole system including both bulks and the interface. We show through extensive numerical studies that it unveils both the universal properties of the system, such as the central charge of the gapless interface mode and its microscopic features. It also captures the low energy physics of experimentally relevant Hamiltonians. Our approach can be generalized to other phases described by tensor networks.

Non-perturbative methodologies for low-dimensional strongly-correlated systems: From non-Abelian bosonization to truncated spectrum methods

We review two important non-perturbative approaches for extracting the physics of low-dimensional strongly correlated quantum systems. Firstly, we start by providing a comprehensive review of non-Abelian bosonization. This includes an introduction to the basic elements of conformal field theory as applied to systems with a current algebra, and we orient the reader by presenting a number of applications of non-Abelian bosonization to models with large symmetries. We then tie this technique into recent advances in the ability of cold atomic systems to realize complex symmetries. Secondly, we discuss truncated spectrum methods for the numerical study of systems in one and two dimensions. For one-dimensional systems we provide the reader with considerable insight into the methodology by reviewing canonical applications of the technique to the Ising model (and its variants) and the sine-Gordon model. Following this we review recent work on the development of renormalization groups, both numerical and analytical, that alleviate the effects of truncating the spectrum. Using these technologies, we consider a number of applications to one-dimensional systems: properties of carbon nanotubes, quenches in the Lieb-Liniger model, 1  +  1D quantum chromodynamics, as well as Landau-Ginzburg theories. In the final part we move our attention to consider truncated spectrum methods applied to two-dimensional systems. This involves combining truncated spectrum methods with matrix product state algorithms. We describe applications of this method to two-dimensional systems of free fermions and the quantum Ising model, including their non-equilibrium dynamics.

Investigating Anisotropic Quantum Hall States with Bimetric Geometry

We construct a low energy effective theory of anisotropic fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We develop a formalism similar to that used in the bimetric approach to massive gravity, and apply it to describe Abelian anisotropic FQH states in the presence of external electromagnetic and geometric backgrounds. We derive a relationship between the shift, the Hall viscosity, and a new quantized coupling to anisotropy, which we term anisospin. We verify this relationship by numerically computing the Hall viscosity for a variety of anisotropic quantum Hall states using the density matrix renormalization group. Finally, we apply these techniques to the problem of nematic order and clarify certain disagreements that exist in the literature about the meaning of the coefficient of the Berry phase term in the nematic effective action.

Landau Level Mixing and the Ground State of the ν=5/2 Quantum Hall Effect

Inter-Landau-level transitions break particle hole symmetry and will choose either the Pfaffian or the anti-Pfaffian state as the absolute ground state at 5/2 filling of the fractional quantum Hall effect. An approach based on truncating the Hilbert space has favored the anti-Pfaffian. A second approach based on an effective Hamiltonian produced the Pfaffian. In this Letter, perturbation theory is applied to finite sizes without bias to any specific pseudopotential component. This method also singles out the anti-Pfaffian. A critical piece of the effective Hamiltonian, which was absent in previous studies, reverts the ground state at 5/2 to the anti-Pfaffian.

Quantum Entanglement as a Diagnostic of Phase Transitions in Disordered Fractional Quantum Hall Liquids

We investigate the disorder-driven phase transition from a fractional quantum Hall state to an Anderson insulator using quantum entanglement methods. We find that the transition is signaled by a sharp increase in the sensitivity of a suitably averaged entanglement entropy with respect to disorder-the magnitude of its disorder derivative appears to diverge in the thermodynamic limit. We also study the level statistics of the entanglement spectrum as a function of disorder. However, unlike the dramatic phase-transition signal in the entanglement entropy derivative, we find a gradual reduction of level repulsion only deep in the Anderson insulating phase.

Space Group Symmetry Fractionalization in a Chiral Kagome Heisenberg Antiferromagnet

The anyonic excitations of a spin liquid can feature fractional quantum numbers under space group symmetries. Detecting these fractional quantum numbers, which are analogs of the fractional charge of Laughlin quasiparticles, may prove easier than the direct observation of anyonic braiding and statistics. Motivated by the recent numerical discovery of spin-liquid phases in the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we theoretically predict the pattern of space group symmetry fractionalization in the kagome lattice SO(3)-symmetric chiral spin liquid. We provide a method to detect these fractional quantum numbers in finite-size numerics which is simple to implement in the density matrix renormalization group. Applying these developments to the chiral spin liquid phase of a kagome Heisenberg model, we find perfect agreement between our theoretical prediction and numerical observations.

Haldane-Hubbard Mott Insulator: From Tetrahedral Spin Crystal to Chiral Spin Liquid

Motivated by cold atom experiments on Chern insulators, we study the honeycomb lattice Haldane-Hubbard Mott insulator of spin-1/2 fermions using exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods. We show that this model exhibits various chiral magnetic orders including a wide regime of triple-Q tetrahedral order. Incorporating third-neighbor hopping frustrates and ultimately melts this tetrahedral spin crystal. From analyzing the low energy spectrum, many-body Chern numbers, entanglement spectra, and modular matrices, we identify the molten state as a chiral spin liquid (CSL) with gapped semion excitations. We formulate and study the Chern-Simons-Higgs field theory of the exotic CSL-to-tetrahedral spin crystallization transition.

Landau Levels in Strained Optical Lattices

We propose a hexagonal optical lattice system with spatial variations in the hopping matrix elements. Just like in the valley Hall effect in strained graphene, for atoms near the Dirac points the variations in the hopping matrix elements can be described by a pseudomagnetic field and result in the formation of Landau levels. We show that the pseudomagnetic field leads to measurable experimental signatures in momentum resolved Bragg spectroscopy, Bloch oscillations, cyclotron motion, and quantization of in situ densities. Our proposal can be realized by a slight modification of existing experiments. In contrast to previous methods, pseudomagnetic fields are realized in a completely static system avoiding common heating effects and therefore opening the door to studying interaction effects in Landau levels with cold atoms.

A theory of 2+1D bosonic topological orders

In primary school, we were told that there are four phases of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. In college, we learned that there are much more than four phases of matter, such as hundreds of crystal phases, liquid crystal phases, ferromagnet, anti-ferromagnet, superfluid, etc. Those phases of matter are so rich, it is amazing that they can be understood systematically by the symmetry breaking theory of Landau. However, there are even more interesting phases of matter that are beyond Landau symmetry breaking theory. In this paper, we review new ‘topological’ phenomena, such as topological degeneracy, that reveal the existence of those new zero-temperature phase—topologically ordered phases. Microscopically, topologically orders are originated from the patterns of long-range entanglement in the ground states. As a truly new type of order and a truly new kind of phenomena, topological order and long-range entanglement require a new language and a new mathematical framework, such as unitary fusion category and modular tensor category to describe them. In this paper, we will describe a simple mathematical framework based on measurable quantities of topological orders (S, T, c) proposed around 1989. The framework allows us to systematically describe all 2+1D bosonic topological orders (i.e. topological orders in local bosonic/spin/qubit systems).

Fractional Quantum Hall States at ν=13/5 and 12/5 and Their Non-Abelian Nature

Topological quantum states with non-Abelian Fibonacci anyonic excitations are widely sought after for the exotic fundamental physics they would exhibit, and for universal quantum computing applications. The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state at a filling factor of ν=12/5 is a promising candidate; however, its precise nature is still under debate and no consensus has been achieved so far. Here, we investigate the nature of the FQH ν=13/5 state and its particle-hole conjugate state at 12/5 with the Coulomb interaction, and we address the issue of possible competing states. Based on a large-scale density-matrix renormalization group calculation in spherical geometry, we present evidence that the essential physics of the Coulomb ground state (GS) at ν=13/5 and 12/5 is captured by the k=3 parafermion Read-Rezayi state (RR_{3}), including a robust excitation gap and the topological fingerprint from the entanglement spectrum and topological entanglement entropy. Furthermore, by considering the infinite-cylinder geometry (topologically equivalent to torus geometry), we expose the non-Abelian GS sector corresponding to a Fibonacci anyonic quasiparticle, which serves as a signature of the RR_{3} state at 13/5 and 12/5 filling numbers.

Universal Wave-Function Overlap and Universal Topological Data from Generic Gapped Ground States

We propose a way-universal wave-function overlap-to extract universal topological data from generic ground states of gapped systems in any dimensions. Those extracted topological data might fully characterize the topological orders with a gapped or gapless boundary. For nonchiral topological orders in (2+1)D, these universal topological data consist of two matrices S and T, which generate a projective representation of SL(2,Z) on the degenerate ground state Hilbert space on a torus. For topological orders with a gapped boundary in higher dimensions, these data constitute a projective representation of the mapping class group MCG(M^{d}) of closed spatial manifold M^{d}. For a set of simple models and perturbations in two dimensions, we show that these quantities are protected to all orders in perturbation theory. These overlaps provide a much more powerful alternative to the topological entanglement entropy and allow for more efficient numerical implementations.

Constraints on topological order in mott insulators

We point out certain symmetry induced constraints on topological order in Mott insulators (quantum magnets with an odd number of spin 1/2 moments per unit cell). We show, for example, that the double-semion topological order is incompatible with time reversal and translation symmetry in Mott insulators. This sharpens the Hastings-Oshikawa-Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem for 2D quantum magnets, which guarantees that a fully symmetric gapped Mott insulator must be topologically ordered, but is silent about which topological order is permitted. Our result applies to the kagome lattice quantum antiferromagnet, where recent numerical calculations of the entanglement entropy indicate a ground state compatible with either toric code or double-semion topological order. Our result rules out the latter possibility.

Distinct spin liquids and their transitions in spin-1/2 XXZ kagome antiferromagnets

By using the density matrix renormalization group approach, we study spin-liquid phases of spin-1/2 XXZ kagome antiferromagnets. We find that the emergence of the spin-liquid phase is independent of the anisotropy of the XXZ interaction. In particular, the two extreme limits-the Ising (a strong S^{z} interaction) and the XY (zero S^{z} interaction)-host the same spin-liquid phases as the isotropic Heisenberg model. Both a time-reversal-invariant spin liquid and a chiral spin liquid with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking are obtained. We show that they evolve continuously into each other by tuning the second- and the third-neighbor interactions. And last, we discuss possible implications of our results for the nature of spin liquid in nearest-neighbor XXZ kagome antiferromagnets, including the nearest-neighbor spin-1/2 kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model.

Topological transitions from multipartite entanglement with tensor networks: a procedure for sharper and faster characterization

Topological order in two-dimensional (2D) quantum matter can be determined by the topological contribution to the entanglement Rényi entropies. However, when close to a quantum phase transition, its calculation becomes cumbersome. Here, we show how topological phase transitions in 2D systems can be much better assessed by multipartite entanglement, as measured by the topological geometric entanglement of blocks. Specifically, we present an efficient tensor network algorithm based on projected entangled pair states to compute this quantity for a torus partitioned into cylinders and then use this method to find sharp evidence of topological phase transitions in 2D systems with a string-tension perturbation. When compared to tensor network methods for Rényi entropies, our approach produces almost perfect accuracies close to criticality and, additionally, is orders of magnitude faster. The method can be adapted to deal with any topological state of the system, including minimally entangled ground states. It also allows us to extract the critical exponent of the correlation length and shows that there is no continuous entanglement loss along renormalization group flows in topological phases.

How universal is the entanglement spectrum?

It is now commonly believed that the ground state entanglement spectrum (ES) exhibits universal features characteristic of a given phase. In this Letter, we show that this belief is false in general. Most significantly, we show that the entanglement Hamiltonian can undergo quantum phase transitions in which its ground state and low-energy spectrum exhibit singular changes, even when the physical system remains in the same phase. For broken symmetry problems, this implies that the low-energy ES and the Rényi entropies can mislead entirely, while for quantum Hall systems, the ES has much less universal content than assumed to date.

Chiral spin liquid in a frustrated anisotropic kagome Heisenberg model

Kalmeyer-Laughlin (KL) chiral spin liquid (CSL) is a type of quantum spin liquid without time-reversal symmetry, and it is considered as the parent state of an exotic type of superconductor--anyon superconductor. Such an exotic state has been sought for more than twenty years; however, it remains unclear whether it can exist in a realistic system where time-reversal symmetry is breaking (T breaking) spontaneously. By using the density matrix renormalization group, we show that KL CSL exists in a frustrated anisotropic kagome Heisenberg model, which has spontaneous T breaking. We find that our model has two topological degenerate ground states, which exhibit nonvanishing scalar chirality order and are protected by finite excitation gap. Furthermore, we identify this state as KL CSL by the characteristic edge conformal field theory from the entanglement spectrum and the quasiparticles braiding statistics extracted from the modular matrix. We also study how this CSL phase evolves as the system approaches the nearest-neighbor kagome Heisenberg model.

Entanglement, subsystem particle numbers and topology in free fermion systems

We study the relationship between bipartite entanglement, subsystem particle number and topology in a half-filled free fermion system. It is proposed that the spin-projected particle numbers can distinguish the quantum spin Hall state from other states, and can be used to establish a new topological index for the system. Furthermore, we apply the new topological invariant to a disordered system and show that a topological phase transition occurs when the disorder strength is increased beyond a critical value. It is also shown that the subsystem particle number fluctuation displays behavior very similar to that of the entanglement entropy. This provides a lower-bound estimation for the entanglement entropy, which can be utilized to obtain an estimate of the entanglement entropy experimentally.

Identifying non-Abelian topological order through minimal entangled states

The topological order is encoded in the pattern of long-range quantum entanglements, which cannot be measured by any local observable. Here we perform an exact diagonalization study to establish the non-Abelian topological order for topological band models through entanglement entropy measurement. We focus on the quasiparticle statistics of the non-Abelian Moore-Read and Read-Rezayi states on the lattice models with bosonic particles. We identify multiple independent minimal entangled states (MESs) in the ground state manifold on a torus. The extracted modular S matrix from MESs faithfully demonstrates the Ising anyon or Fibonacci quasiparticle statistics, including the quasiparticle quantum dimensions and the fusion rules for such systems. These findings unambiguously demonstrate the topological nature of the quantum states for these flatband models without using the knowledge of model wave functions.