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Fracton Topological Phases from Strongly Coupled Spin Chains

Gábor B. Halász, Timothy H. Hsieh, and Leon Balents
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 257202 – Published 20 December 2017
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Abstract

We provide a new perspective on fracton topological phases, a class of three-dimensional topologically ordered phases with unconventional fractionalized excitations that are either completely immobile or only mobile along particular lines or planes. We demonstrate that a wide range of these fracton phases can be constructed by strongly coupling mutually intersecting spin chains and explain via a concrete example how such a coupled-spin-chain construction illuminates the generic properties of a fracton phase. In particular, we describe a systematic translation from each coupled-spin-chain construction into a parton construction where the partons correspond to the excitations that are mobile along lines. Remarkably, our construction of fracton phases is inherently based on spin models involving only two-spin interactions and thus brings us closer to their experimental realization.

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  • Received 8 August 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.257202

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsQuantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

Gábor B. Halász, Timothy H. Hsieh, and Leon Balents

  • Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 25 — 22 December 2017

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