Symmetry fractionalization: symmetry-protected topological phases of the bond-alternating spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain

Abstract

We study different phases of the one-dimensional bond-alternating spin-1/2 Heisenberg model by using the symmetry fractionalization mechanism. We employ the infinite matrix-product state representation of the ground state (through the infinite-size density matrix renormalization group algorithm) to obtain inequivalent projective representations and commutation relations of the (unbroken) symmetry groups of the model, which are used to identify the different phases. We find that the model exhibits trivial as well as symmetry-protected topological phases. The symmetry-protected topological phases are Haldane phases on even/odd bonds, which are protected by the time-reversal (acting on the spin as σ → −σ), parity (permutation of the chain about a specific bond), and dihedral (π-rotations about a pair of orthogonal axes) symmetries. Additionally, we investigate the phases of the most general two-body bond-alternating spin-1/2 model, which respects the time-reversal, parity, and dihedral symmetries, and obtain its corresponding twelve different types of the symmetry-protected topological phases.