English

Models for gapped boundaries and domain walls

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2012-10-01 v4 Category Theory Quantum Algebra

Abstract

We define a class of lattice models for two-dimensional topological phases with boundary such that both the bulk and the boundary excitations are gapped. The bulk part is constructed using a unitary tensor category \calC\calC as in the Levin-Wen model, whereas the boundary is associated with a module category over \calC\calC. We also consider domain walls (or defect lines) between different bulk phases. A domain wall is transparent to bulk excitations if the corresponding unitary tensor categories are Morita equivalent. Defects of higher codimension will also be studied. In summary, we give a dictionary between physical ingredients of lattice models and tensor-categorical notions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1104.5047,
  title  = {Models for gapped boundaries and domain walls},
  author = {Alexei Kitaev and Liang Kong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.5047},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

21 pages, a typo is corrected (thanks for Juven Wang)

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:59:05.582Z