Adiabatic Preparation of Topological Order

Abstract

Topological order characterizes those phases of matter that defy a description in terms of symmetry and cannot be distinguished in terms of local order parameters. Here we show that a system of n spins forming a lattice on a Riemann surface can undergo a second order quantum phase transition between a spin-polarized phase and a string-net condensed phase. This is an example of a quantum phase transition between magnetic and topological order. We furthermore show how to prepare the topologically ordered phase through adiabatic evolution in a time that is upper bounded by O(sqrt[n]). This provides a physically plausible method for constructing and initializing a topological quantum memory.