Quantum phase transitions in the K -layer Ising toric code

Abstract

We investigate the quantum phase diagram of the $K$-layer Ising toric code corresponding to $K$ layers of two-dimensional toric codes coupled by Ising interactions. While for small Ising interactions the system displays ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}^{K}$ topological order originating from the toric codes in each layer, the system shows ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological order in the high-Ising limit. The latter is demonstrated for general $K$ by deriving an effective low-energy model in $K\mathrm{th}$-order degenerate perturbation theory, which is given as an effective anisotropic single-layer toric code in terms of collective pseudospins 1/2 referring to the two ground states of isolated Ising chain segments. For the specific cases $K=3$ and $K=4$ we apply high-order series expansions to determine the gap series in the low- and high-Ising limit. Extrapolation of the elementary energy gaps gives convincing evidence that the ground-state phase diagram consists of a single quantum critical point and our findings suggest a quantum phase transition in the 3D Ising* universality class for both $K$ separating both types of topological order, which is consistent with former findings for the bilayer Ising toric code.