English

(3+1)-TQFTs and Topological Insulators

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2011-04-29 v2 Quantum Algebra

Abstract

Levin-Wen models are microscopic spin models for topological phases of matter in (2+1)-dimension. We introduce a generalization of such models to (3+1)-dimension based on unitary braided fusion categories, also known as unitary premodular categories. We discuss the ground state degeneracy on 3-manifolds and statistics of excitations which include both points and defect loops. Potential connections with recently proposed fractional topological insulators and projective ribbon permutation statistics are described.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1104.2632,
  title  = {(3+1)-TQFTs and Topological Insulators},
  author = {Kevin Walker and Zhenghan Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.2632},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

Several clarifications are added. To appear in the special issue of Frontiers of Physics on topological insulators

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:53:48.075Z