English

Fermionic symmetry fractionalization in (2+1)D

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2022-03-15 v3 High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Algebra

Abstract

We develop a systematic theory of symmetry fractionalization for fermionic topological phases of matter in (2+1)D with a general fermionic symmetry group GfG_f. In general GfG_f is a central extension of the bosonic symmetry group GbG_b by fermion parity, (1)F(-1)^F, characterized by a non-trivial cohomology class [ω2]H2(Gb,Z2)[\omega_2] \in \mathcal{H}^2(G_b, \mathbb{Z}_2). We show how the presence of local fermions places a number of constraints on the algebraic data that defines the action of the symmetry on the super-modular tensor category that characterizes the anyon content. We find two separate obstructions to defining symmetry fractionalization, which we refer to as the bosonic and fermionic symmetry localization obstructions. The former is valued in H3(Gb,K(C))\mathcal{H}^3(G_b, K(\mathcal{C})), while the latter is valued in either H3(Gb,A/{1,ψ})\mathcal{H}^3(G_b,\mathcal{A}/\{1,\psi\}) or Z2(Gb,Z2)Z^2(G_b, \mathbb{Z}_2) depending on additional details of the theory. K(C)K(\mathcal{C}) is the Abelian group of functions from anyons to U(1)\mathrm{U}(1) phases obeying the fusion rules, A\mathcal{A} is the Abelian group defined by fusion of Abelian anyons, and ψ\psi is the fermion. When these obstructions vanish, we show that distinct symmetry fractionalization patterns form a torsor over H2(Gb,A/{1,ψ})\mathcal{H}^2(G_b, \mathcal{A}/\{1,\psi\}). We study a number of examples in detail; in particular we provide a characterization of fermionic Kramers degeneracy arising in symmetry class DIII within this general framework, and we discuss fractional quantum Hall and Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 quantum spin liquid states of electrons.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.10913,
  title  = {Fermionic symmetry fractionalization in (2+1)D},
  author = {Daniel Bulmash and Maissam Barkeshli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.10913},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

31+6 pages; v2: updated references and acknowledgements; v3: expanded results on continuous symmetry groups, some corrections

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:13:43.212Z