Subsystem Symmetry Fractionalization and Foliated Field Theory

We introduce a generalization of conventional lattice gauge theory to describe fracton topological phases, which are characterized by immobile, point-like topological excitations, and sub-extensive topological degeneracy. We demonstrate a duality between fracton topological order and interacting spin systems with symmetries along extensive, lower-dimensional subsystems, which may be used to systematically search for and characterize fracton topological phases. Commutative alg...

One of the central ideas regarding anomalies in topological phases of matter is that they imply the existence of higher-dimensional physics, with an anomaly in a D-dimensional theory typically being cancelled by a bulk (D+1)-dimensional symmetry-protected topological phase (SPT). We demonstrate that for some topological phases with reflection symmetry, anomalies may actually be cancelled by a D-dimensional SPT, provided that it comes embedded in an otherwise trivial (D+1)-dim...

In this work, we study the generalization of decohered average symmetry-protected topological phases to open quantum systems with a combination of subsystem symmetries and global symmetries. In particular, we provide examples of two types of intrinsic average higher-order topological phases with average subsystem symmetries. A classification scheme for these phases based on generalized anomaly cancellation criteria of average symmetry is also discussed.

We study symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases of matter in 2D protected by symmetries acting on fractal subsystems of a certain type. Despite the total symmetry group of such systems being subextensively large, we show that only a small number of phases are actually realizable by local Hamiltonians. Which phases are possible depends crucially on the spatial structure of the symmetries, and we show that in many cases no non-trivial SPT phases are possible at all. In cas...

These are intended to be review notes on emergent symmetries, i.e., symmetries which manifest themselves in specific sectors of energy in many systems. The emphasis is on the physical aspects rather than computation methods. We include some background material and go through more recent problems in field theory, statistical mechanics and condensed matter. These problems illustrate how some important symmetries, such as Lorentz invariance and supersymmetry, usually believed to...

We consider fermionic systems in which fermion parity is conserved within rigid subsystems, and describe an explicit procedure for gauging such subsystem fermion parity symmetries to obtain bosonic spin Hamiltonians. We show that gauging planar or fractal subsystem fermion parity symmetry in three spatial dimensions gives rise to a plethora of exactly solvable spin models exhibiting novel gapped fractonic orders characterized by emergent fermionic gauge theory. The low energy...

The notion of higher-order topological phases can have interesting generalizations to systems with subsystem symmetries that exhibit fractonic dynamics for charged excitations. In this work, we systematically study the higher-order topological phases protected by a combination of subsystem symmetries and ordinary global symmetries in two and three-dimensional interacting boson systems, with some interacting fermionic examples.

We study 't Hooft anomalies and the related anomaly inflow for subsystem global symmetries. These symmetries and anomalies arise in a number of exotic systems, including models with fracton order such as the X-cube model. As is the case for ordinary global symmetries, anomalies for subsystem symmetries can be canceled by anomaly inflow from a bulk theory in one higher dimension; the corresponding bulk is therefore a non-trivial subsystem symmetry protected topological (SSPT) ...

Based on several previous examples, we summarize explicitly the general procedure to gauge models with subsystem symmetries, which are symmetries with generators that have support within a sub-manifold of the system. The gauging process can be applied to any local quantum model on a lattice that is invariant under the subsystem symmetry. We focus primarily on simple 3D paramagnetic states with planar symmetries. For these systems, the gauged theory may exhibit foliated fracto...

Spurred by recent development of fracton topological phases, unusual topological phases possessing fractionalized quasi-particles with mobility constraints, the concept of symmetries has been renewed. In particular, in accordance with the progress of multipole symmetries, associated with conservation of multipoles, such as dipole or quadruple moments as well as global charges, there have been proposed topological phases with such symmetries. These topological phases are uncon...