Physics – Condensed Matter – Strongly Correlated Electrons
Scientific paper
2010-11-18
New J.Phys.13:025009,2011
Physics
Condensed Matter
Strongly Correlated Electrons
11 pages, several figures
Scientific paper
10.1088/1367-2630/13/2/025009
Topological or deconfined phases are characterized by emergent, weakly fluctuating, gauge fields. In condensed matter settings they inevitably come coupled to excitations that carry the corresponding gauge charges which invalidate the standard diagnostic of deconfinement---the Wilson loop. Inspired by a mapping between symmetric sponges and the deconfined phase of the $Z_2$ gauge theory, we construct a diagnostic for deconfinement that has the interpretation of a line tension. One operator version of this diagnostic turns out to be the Fredenhagen-Marcu order parameter known to lattice gauge theorists and we show that a different version is best suited to condensed matter systems. We discuss generalizations of the diagnostic, use it to establish the existence of finite temperature topological phases in $d \ge 3$ dimensions and show that multiplets of the diagnostic are useful in settings with multiple phases such as $U(1)$ gauge theories with charge $q$ matter. [Additionally we present an exact reduction of the partition function of the toric code in general dimensions to a well studied problem.]
Gregor Karol
Huse David A.
Moessner Richhild
Sondhi Shivaji L.
No associations
LandOfFree
Diagnosing Deconfinement and Topological Order does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Diagnosing Deconfinement and Topological Order, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Diagnosing Deconfinement and Topological Order will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-536911