Numerical detection of symmetry-enriched topological phases with space-group symmetry

Abstract

Topologically ordered phases of matter, in particular so-called symmetry-enriched topological phases, can exhibit quantum number fractionalization in the presence of global symmetry. In Z_2 topologically ordered states in two dimensions, fundamental translations T_x and T_y acting on anyons can either commute or anticommute. This property, crystal momentum fractionalization, can be seen in a periodicity of the excited-state spectrum in the Brillouin zone. We present a numerical method to detect the presence of this form of symmetry enrichment given a projected entangled pair state; we study the minima of the spectrum of correlation lengths of the transfer matrix for a cylinder. As a benchmark, we demonstrate our method using a modified toric code model with perturbation. An enhanced periodicity in momentum clearly reveals the nontrivial anticommutation relation {T_x, T_y}=0 for the corresponding quasiparticles in the system.

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