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Over the last two decades, the competing orders in high-$T_{c}$ cuprates have been intensely studied, such as pseudogap phase, charge density waves (CDW), and pair density waves (PDW), which are thought to play a crucial role in high-temperature superconductivity. Using the $t$-$J$ model on a square lattice as the simplest model for high-$T_{c}$ cuprates, we employed the fermionic tensor product state (fTPS) method for numerical investigations. Our study revealed new types of PDW states alongside the well-known $d$-wave state and the recently discovered fluctuating PDW state within the low-energy subspace of the $t$-$J$ model. We believe that the competition among these states in the underdoped region suggests the potential existence of a fluctuating quantum liquid of PDW states, providing direct evidence for the pseudogap phase's "cheap vortex" scenario. Furthermore, we discuss the potential experimental implication of our discovery., Comment: 10 pages, 17 figures

A catalyst is a substance that enables otherwise impossible transformations between states of a system, without being consumed in the process. In this work, we apply the notion of catalysts to many-body quantum physics. In particular, we construct catalysts that enable transformations between different symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases of matter using symmetric finite-depth quantum circuits. We discover a wide variety of catalysts, including GHZ-like states which spontaneously break the symmetry, gapless states with critical correlations, topological orders with symmetry fractionalization, and spin-glass states. These catalysts are all united under a single framework which has close connections to the theory of quantum anomalies, and we use this connection to put strong constraints on possible pure- and mixed-state catalysts. We also show how the catalyst approach leads to new insights into the structure of certain phases of matter, and to new methods to efficiently prepare SPT phases with long-range interactions or projective measurements.

We establish a holographic duality between d-dimensional mixed-state symmetry-protected topological phases (mSPTs) and (d+1)-dimensional subsystem symmetry-protected topological states (SSPTs). Specifically, we show that the reduced density matrix of the boundary layer of a (d+1)-dimensional SSPT with subsystem symmetry $\mathcal{S}$ and global symmetry $\mathcal{G}$ corresponds to a d-dimensional mSPT with strong $\mathcal{S}$ and weak $\mathcal{G}$ symmetries. Conversely, we demonstrate that the wavefunction of an SSPT can be constructed by replicating the density matrix of the corresponding lower-dimensional mSPT. This mapping links the density matrix in lower dimensions to the entanglement properties of higher-dimensional wavefunctions, providing an approach for analyzing nonlinear quantities and quantum information metrics in mixed-state systems. Our duality offers a new perspective for studying intrinsic mSPTs that are unique to open quantum systems, without pure state analogs. We show that strange correlators and twisted Renyi-N correlators can diagnose these nontrivial phases and explore their connection to strange correlators in pure-state SSPTs., Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures

We propose a fluctuation-dissipation theorem in open quantum systems from an information-theoretic perspective. We define the fidelity susceptibility that measures the sensitivity of the systems under perturbation and relate it to the fidelity correlator that characterizes the correlation behaviors for mixed quantum states. In particular, we determine the scaling behavior of the fidelity susceptibility in the strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SW-SSB) phase, strongly symmetric short-range correlated phase, and the quantum critical point between them. We then provide a geometric perspective of our construction using distance measures of density matrices. We find that the metric of the quantum information geometry generated by perturbative distance between density matrices before and after perturbation is generally non-analytic. Finally, we design a polynomial proxy that can in principle be used as an experimental probe for detecting the SW-SSB and phase transition through quantum metrology. In particular, we show that each term of the polynomial proxy is related to the R\'enyi versions of the fidelity correlators., Comment: 4.5 pages + 1 figure + Supplementary Materials

Topological orders in 2+1d are spontaneous symmetry-breaking (SSB) phases of 1-form symmetries in pure states. The notion of symmetry is further enriched in the context of mixed states, where a symmetry can be either ``strong" or ``weak". In this work, we apply a R\'enyi-2 version of the proposed equivalence relation in [Sang, Lessa, Mong, Grover, Wang, & Hsieh, to appear] on density matrices that is slightly finer than two-way channel connectivity. This equivalence relation distinguishes general 1-form strong-to-weak SSB (SW-SSB) states from phases containing pure states, and therefore labels SW-SSB states as ``intrinsically mixed". According to our equivalence relation, two states are equivalent if and only if they are connected to each other by finite Lindbladian evolution that maintains continuously varying, finite R\'enyi-2 Markov length. We then examine a natural setting for finding such density matrices: disordered ensembles. Specifically, we study the toric code with various types of disorders and show that in each case, the ensemble of ground states corresponding to different disorder realizations form a density matrix with different strong and weak SSB patterns of 1-form symmetries, including SW-SSB. Furthermore we show by perturbative calculations that these disordered ensembles form stable ``phases" in the sense that they exist over a finite parameter range, according to our equivalence relation., Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures

Inspired by the hunt for new phases of matter in quantum mixed states, it has recently been proposed that the equivalence of microcanonical and canonical ensembles in statistical mechanics is a manifestation of strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SWSSB) in an underlying many-body quantum description. Here, we build an effective field theory for SWSSB of a global U(1) symmetry; the answer exactly reproduces the Schwinger-Keldysh effective field theory of diffusion for the conserved charge. We conclude that hydrodynamics can be understood as a theory of "superfluidity" for the broken strong symmetry: a non-vanishing susceptibility is a measurable order parameter for SWSSB, the diffusion mode is the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken continuous symmetry, and a generalization of Goldstone's Theorem implies that the diffusion mode is always long-lived. This perspective provides a transparent physical explanation for the unusual "reparameterization" symmetries which are a necessary ingredient of Schwinger-Keldysh effective field theories for "normal fluids".

Symmetry in mixed quantum states can manifest in two distinct forms: strong symmetry, where each individual pure state in the quantum ensemble is symmetric with the same charge, and weak symmetry, which applies only to the entire ensemble. This paper explores a novel type of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) where a strong symmetry is broken to a weak one. While the SSB of a weak symmetry is measured by the long-ranged two-point correlation function, the strong-to-weak SSB (SW-SSB) is measured by the fidelity correlator. We prove that SW-SSB is a universal property of mixed-state quantum phases, in the sense that the phenomenon of SW-SSB is robust against symmetric low-depth local quantum channels. We also show that the symmetry breaking is "spontaneous" in the sense that the effect of a local symmetry-breaking measurement cannot be recovered locally. We argue that a thermal state at a nonzero temperature in the canonical ensemble (with fixed symmetry charge) should have spontaneously broken strong symmetry. Additionally, we study non-thermal scenarios where decoherence induces SW-SSB, leading to phase transitions described by classical statistical models with bond randomness. In particular, the SW-SSB transition of a decohered Ising model can be viewed as the "ungauged" version of the celebrated toric code decodability transition. We confirm that, in the decohered Ising model, the SW-SSB transition defined by the fidelity correlator is the only physical transition in terms of channel recoverability. We also comment on other (inequivalent) definitions of SW-SSB, through correlation functions with higher Renyi indices., Comment: 17+6 pages, 4 figures

We propose a tensor network approach known as the locally purified density operator (LPDO) to investigate the classification and characterization of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in open quantum systems. We extend the concept of injectivity, originally associated with matrix product states and projected entangled pair states, to LPDOs in $(1+1)D$ and $(2+1)D$ systems, unveiling two distinct types of injectivity conditions inherent in short-range entangled density matrices. Within the LPDO framework, we outline a classification scheme for decohered average symmetry-protected topological (ASPT) phases, consistent with earlier results obtained through spectrum sequence techniques. We first illustrate our framework with ASPT phases protected by fermion parity symmetry, then extend the classification of ASPT phases to a general group extension. We demonstrate examples of explicit construction of fixed-point LPDOs for ASPT phases including intrinsic ASPTs in both $(1+1)D$ and $(2+1)D$ systems., Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures

Topological phases protected by crystalline symmetries and internal symmetries are shown to enjoy fascinating one-to-one correspondence in classification. Here we investigate the physics content behind the abstract correspondence in three or higher-dimensional systems. We show correspondence between anomalous boundary states, which provides a new way to explore the quantum anomaly of symmetry from its crystalline equivalent counterpart. We show such correspondence directly in two scenarios, including the anomalous symmetry-enriched topological orders (SET) and critical surface states. (1) First of all, for the surface SET correspondence, we demonstrate it by considering examples involving time-reversal symmetry and mirror symmetry. We show that one 2D topological order can carry the time reversal anomaly as long as it can carry the mirror anomaly and vice versa, by directly establishing the mapping of the time reversal anomaly indicators and mirror anomaly indicators. Besides, we also consider other cases involving continuous symmetry, which leads us to introduce some new anomaly indicators for symmetry from its counterpart. (2) Furthermore, we also build up direct correspondence for (near) critical boundaries. Again taking topological phases protected by time reversal and mirror symmetry as examples, the direct correspondence of their (near) critical boundaries can be built up by coupled chain construction that was first proposed by Senthil and Fisher. The examples of critical boundary correspondence we consider in this paper can be understood in a unified framework that is related to \textit{hierarchy structure} of topological $O(n)$ nonlinear sigma model, that generalizes the Haldane's derivation of $O(3)$ sigma model from spin one-half system., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

In this work, we study the generalization of decohered average symmetry-protected topological phases to open quantum systems with a combination of subsystem symmetries and global symmetries. In particular, we provide examples of two types of intrinsic average higher-order topological phases with average subsystem symmetries. A classification scheme for these phases based on generalized anomaly cancellation criteria of average symmetry is also discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

We examine the dynamical magnetic response in a two-component resonating-valence-bond (RVB) description of the doped Mott insulator. The half-filled antiferromagnetic phase described by the Schwinger-boson mean-field theory will evolve into a bosonic-RVB state in the superconducting phase upon doping, where the doped holes introduce another fermionic itinerant spinon which forms a BCS-like RVB order. The spin excitations are thus composed of a resonance-like mode from the former and a weak dispersive mode from the itinerant component at the mean-field level. These two-component spinons are shown to give rise to an hourglass-like spin excitation at the RPA level via an antiferromagnetic coupling between the two modes, which provides an unconventional explanation of the experimental observations in the cuprate. In particular, we also discuss an instability towards an incommensurate magnetic order in this theoretical framework., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures

Global symmetries greatly enrich the landscape of topological quantum phases, playing an essential role from topological insulators to fractional quantum Hall effect. Topological phases in mixed quantum states, originating from \textit{decoherence} in open quantum systems or \textit{disorders} in imperfect crystalline solids, have recently garnered significant interest. Unlike pure states, mixed quantum states can exhibit \textit{average symmetries} -- symmetries that keep the total ensemble invariant but not on each individual state. In this work, we present a systematic classification and characterization of average symmetry-protected topological (ASPT) phases applicable to generic symmetry groups, encompassing both average and exact symmetries, for bosonic and fermionic systems. Moreover, we formulate the theory of average symmetry-enriched topological (ASET) orders in disordered bosonic systems. Our systematic approach helps clarify nuanced issues in previous literature and uncovers compelling new physics. Notably, we discover that (1) the definition and classification of ASPT phases in decohered and disordered systems exhibit subtle differences; (2) despite these differences, ASPT phases in both settings can be classified and characterized under a unified framework of defect decoration and spectral sequence; (3) this systematic classification uncovers a plethora of ASPT phases that are \textit{intrinsically mixed}, implying they can exclusively manifest in decohered or disordered systems where part of the symmetry is average; (4) similarly for ASET, we find intrinsically disordered phases exhibiting exotic anyon behaviors -- the ground states of such phases necessarily contain localized anyons, with gapless (yet still localized) excitation spectral., Comment: 27+6 pages, 6+2 figures

We investigate the phase diagram at the boundary of an infinite two-dimensional cluster state subject to bulk measurements using tensor network methods. The state is subjected to uniform measurements $M = \cos{\theta}Z+\sin{\theta}X$ on the lower boundary qubits and in all bulk qubits. Our results show that the boundary of the system exhibits volume-law entanglement at the measurement angle $\theta = \pi/2$ and area-law entanglement for any $\theta < \pi/2$. Within the area-law phase, a phase transition occurs at $\theta_c=1.371$. The phase with $\theta \in(\theta_c,\pi/2)$ is characterized by a noninjective matrix product state, which cannot be realized as the unique ground state of a one-dimensional local, gapped Hamiltonian. Instead, it resembles a cat state with spontaneous symmetry breaking. These findings demonstrate that the phase diagram of the boundary of a two-dimensional system can be more intricate than that of a standard one-dimensional system., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

We propose a minimal interacting lattice model for two-dimensional class-$D$ higher-order topological superconductors with no free-fermion counterpart. A Lieb-Schultz-Mattis-type constraint is proposed and applied to guide our lattice model construction. Our model exhibits a trivial product ground state in the weakly interacting regime, whereas, increasing electron interactions provoke a novel topological quantum phase transition to a $D_4$-symmetric higher-order topological superconducting state. The symmetry-protected Majorana corner modes are numerically confirmed with the matrix-product-state technique. Our theory paves the way for studying interacting higher-order topology with explicit lattice model constructions., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

Average symmetry-protected topological (ASPT) phase is a generalization of symmetry-protected topological phases to disordered systems or open quantum systems. We devise a "strange correlator" in one and two dimensions to detect nontrivial ASPT states. We demonstrate that for a nontrivial ASPT phase this strange correlator exhibits long-range or power-law behavior. We explore the connection between the strange correlators and correlation functions in two-dimensional loop models with quantum corrections, leading to the exact scaling exponents of the strange correlators., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. A basis-independent form of strange correlator has been updated

The notion of higher-order topological phases can have interesting generalizations to systems with subsystem symmetries that exhibit fractonic dynamics for charged excitations. In this work, we systematically study the higher-order topological phases protected by a combination of subsystem symmetries and ordinary global symmetries in two and three-dimensional interacting boson systems, with some interacting fermionic examples., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures with references, comments are welcome!

The natural existence of crystalline symmetry in real materials manifests the importance of understanding crystalline symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases, especially for interacting systems. In this paper, we systematically construct and classify all the crystalline topological superconductors and insulators in three-dimensional (3D) interacting fermion systems using the novel concept of topological crystal. The corresponding higher-order topological surface theory can also be systematically studied via higher-order bulk-boundary correspondence. In particular, we discover an intriguing fact that almost all topological crystals with nontrivial 2D block states are intrinsically interacting topological phases that cannot be realized in any free-fermion systems. Moreover, the crystalline equivalence principle for 3D interacting fermionic systems is also verified, with an additional subtle "twist" on the spin of fermions., Comment: 52+33 pages, 30+26 figures, comments are welcome

Coupled-wire constructions have been widely applied to quantum Hall systems and symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. In this Letter, we use the coupled one-dimensional nonchiral Luttinger liquids with domain-wall structured mass terms as quantum wires to construct the crystalline higher-order topological superconductors (HOTSC) in two-dimensional interacting fermionic systems by two representative examples: $D_4$-symmetric class-D HOTSC and $C_4$-symmetric class-BD\1 HOTSC, with Majorana corner modes on the edge. Furthermore, based on the coupled-wire constructions, the quantum phase transition between different phases of 2D HOTSC by tuning the inter-wire couplings is investigated in a straightforward way., Comment: 4+epsilon pages, 5 figures, with Supplementary Materials; Published version

The boundary of topological phases of matter can manifest its topology nature, which leads to the so-called boundary-bulk correspondence (BBC) of topological phases. In this Letter, we construct a one-to-one correspondence between the boundary theories of fermionic SPT (fSPT) phases protected by crystalline symmetry and on-site symmetry in 2D fermionic systems, which follow the so-called crystalline equivalence principle. We dub such correspondence crystalline equivalent BBC. We illustrate this correspondence by two simple examples and as an application, we discover the topological boundary theory of 2D fSPT phase with spin-1/2 fermions, protected by a non-Abelian group $\mathbb{Z}_4\rtimes\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ with $A^4=\mathcal{T}^2=P_f$ where $A$ is the generator of $\mathbb{Z}_4$, from its crystalline equivalent partner -- 2D higher-order fSPT phase with spinless fermions, protected by $D_4$ symmetry., Comment: 4+epsilon pages, 3 figures, with supplementary materials. Comments are welcome

We investigate the tensor network representations of fermionic crystalline symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases on two-dimensional lattices. As a mapping from virtual indices to physical indices, projected entangled-pair state (PEPS) serves as a concrete way to construct the wavefunctions of 2D crystalline fermionic SPT (fSPT) phases protected by 17 wallpaper group symmetries, for both spinless and spin-1/2 fermions. Based on PEPS, the full classification of 2D crystalline fSPT phases with wallpaper groups can be obtained. Tensor network states provide a natural framework for studying 2D crystalline fSPT phases., Comment: 12 figures, 3 tables, comments are welcome

The construction and classification of crystalline symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting bosonic and fermionic systems have been intensively studied in the past few years. Crystalline SPT phases are not only of conceptual importance, but also provide great opportunities towards experimental realization since space group symmetries naturally exist for any realistic material. In this paper, we systematically classify the crystalline topological superconductors (TSC) and topological insulators (TI) in 2D interacting fermionic systems by using an explicit real-space construction. In particular, we discover an intriguing fermionic crystalline topological superconductor that can only be realized in interacting fermionic systems (i.e., not in free-fermion or bosonic SPT systems). Moreover, we also verify the recently conjectured crystalline equivalence principle for generic 2D interacting fermionic systems., Comment: 39+37 pages, 10+13 figures, 3+1 tables, all comments and suggestions are very welcome

The construction and classification of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases in interacting bosonic and fermionic systems have been intensively studied in the past few years. Very recently, a complete classification and construction of space group SPT phases were also proposed for interacting bosonic systems. In this paper, we attempt to generalize this classification and construction scheme systematically into interacting fermion systems. In particular, we construct and classify point group SPT phases for 2D interacting fermion systems via lower-dimensional block-state decorations. We discover several intriguing fermionic SPT states that can only be realized in interacting fermion systems (i.e., not in free-fermion or bosonic SPT systems). Moreover, we also verify the recently conjectured crystalline equivalence principle for 2D interacting fermion systems. Finally, the potential experimental realization of these new classes of point group SPT phases in 2D correlated superconductors is addressed., Comment: 4+epsilon pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; with supplementary material; Published version

We present a phenomenological Green's function to characterize the superconducting and pseudogap phases of the cuprates based on a microscopic theory of doped Mott insulators. In this framework, the "Fermi arc" and "kink" phenomena observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments in the pseudogap phase can be systematically explained as a function of doping, which is further connected to the two-gap feature in the superconducting phase with dichotomy between the nodal and antinodal physics. We demonstrate that a phase-string-induced fractionalization plays the key role in giving rise to such a peculiar Green's function with a unique two-component structure., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures; Complete version with modified figures

We study the systematic doping evolution of nodal dispersions by in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the continuously doped surface of a high-temperature superconductor Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+x}$. We reveal that the nodal dispersion has three segments separated by two kinks, located at ~10 meV and roughly 70 meV, respectively. The three segments have different band velocities and different doping dependence. In particular, the velocity of the high-energy segment increases monotonically as the doping level decreases and can even surpass the bare band velocity. We propose that electron fractionalization is a possible cause for this anomalous nodal dispersion and may even play a key role in the understanding of exotic properties of cuprates.