State sum constructions of spin-TFTs and string net constructions of fermionic phases of matter

Abstract It is possible to describe fermionic phases of matter and spin-topological field theories in 2+1d in terms of bosonic “shadow” theories, which are obtained from the original theory by “gauging fermionic parity”. The fermionic/spin theories are recovered from their shadow by a process of fer...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lakshya Bhardwaj, Davide Gaiotto, Anton Kapustin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2017-04-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP04(2017)096
Description
Summary:Abstract It is possible to describe fermionic phases of matter and spin-topological field theories in 2+1d in terms of bosonic “shadow” theories, which are obtained from the original theory by “gauging fermionic parity”. The fermionic/spin theories are recovered from their shadow by a process of fermionic anyon condensation: gauging a one-form symmetry generated by quasi-particles with fermionic statistics. We apply the formalism to theories which admit gapped boundary conditions. We obtain Turaev-Viro-like and Levin-Wen-like constructions of fermionic phases of matter. We describe the group structure of fermionic SPT phases protected by ℤ 2 f  × G. The quaternion group makes a surprise appearance.
ISSN:1029-8479