One-dimensional Topological Phases Research Articles

Visualizing Majorana fermions in a chain of magnetic atoms on a superconductor

A chain of magnetic atoms on the surface of a superconductor provides a versatile platform for realizing a one-dimensional topological superconductivity phase with edge-bounded Majorana fermions zero modes. This platform lends itself to spatial resolved measurements with scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that enables direct visualization of the presence of a localized Majorana zero mode. Experiments on self-assembled chains of Fe atoms on the surface of Pb show that such a system can be experimentally fabricated and studied using various high-resolution STM measurement techniques. Spatial and energy resolved STM experiments provide strong evidence for Majorana bound states that emerge due to the combination of Fe’s ferromagnetism and spin–orbit coupling of the superconducting Pb substrate. These studies provide a roadmap for optimizing topological superconductivity in this one-dimensional platform and its extension to realize chiral two-dimensional superconductors.

Ground states of one-dimensional symmetry-protected topological phases and their utility as resource states for quantum computation

The program of classifying symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in 1D has been recently completed and has opened the doors to study closely the properties of systems belonging to these phases. It was recently found that being able to constrain the form of ground states of SPT order based on symmetry properties also allows to explore novel resource states for processing of quantum information. In this paper, we generalize the consideration of Else et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 108}, 240505 (2012)] where it was shown that the ground-state form of spin-1 chains protected by $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry supports perfect operation of the identity gate, important also for long-distance transmission of quantum information. We develop a formalism to constrain the ground-state form of SPT phases protected by any arbitrary finite symmetry group and use it to examine examples of ground states of SPT phases protected by various finite groups for similar gate protections. We construct a particular Hamiltonian invariant under $A_4$ symmetry transformation which is one of the groups that allows protected identity operation and examine its ground states. We find that there is an extended region where the ground state is the AKLT state, which not only supports the identity gate but also arbitrary single-qubit gates.

Quantum circuit complexity of one-dimensional topological phases

Topological quantum states cannot be created from product states with local quantum circuits of constant depth and are in this sense more entangled than topologically trivial states, but how entangled are they? Here we quantify the entanglement in one-dimensional topological states by showing that local quantum circuits of linear depth are necessary to generate them from product states. We establish this linear lower bound for both bosonic and fermionic one-dimensional topological phases and use symmetric circuits for phases with symmetry. We also show that the linear lower bound can be saturated by explicitly constructing circuits generating these topological states. The same results hold for local quantum circuits connecting topological states in different phases.

Constructing a Weyl semimetal by stacking one-dimensional topological phases

Topological semimetals in three-dimensions (e.g. Weyl semimetal) can be built by stacking two dimensional topological phases. The interesting aspect of such a construction is that even though the topological building blocks in the low dimension may be gapped, the higher dimensional semimetallic phase emerges as a gapless critical point of a topological phase transition between two distinct insulating phases. In this work, we extend this idea by constructing three-dimensional topological semimetallic phases akin to Weyl systems by stacking one-dimensional Aubry-Andre-Harper (AAH) lattice tight binding models with non-trivial topology. The generalized AAH model is a family of one dimensional tight binding models with cosine modulations in both hopping and onsite energy terms. In this paper, we present a two-parameter generalization of the AAH model that can access topological phases in three dimensions within a unified framework. We show that the $\pi$-flux state of this two-parameter AAH model manifests three dimensional topological semimetallic phases where the topological features are embedded in one dimension. The topological nature of the band touching points of the semimetallic phase in 3D is explicitly established both analytically and numerically from the 1D perspective. This dimensional reduction provides a simple protocol to experimentally construct the three dimensional Brillouin zone of the topological semimetallic phases using `legos' of simple 1D double well optical lattices. We also propose Zak phase imaging of optical lattices as a tool to capture the topological nature of the band touching points. Our work provides a theoretical connection between the commensurate AAH model in 1D and Weyl semimetals in 3D, and points toward practical methods for the laboratory realization of such three dimensional topological systems in atomic optical lattices.

Stability of zero modes in parafermion chains

One-dimensional topological phases can host localized zero-energy modes that enable high-fidelity storage and manipulation of quantum information. Majorana fermion chains support a classic example of such a phase, having zero modes that guarantee two-fold degeneracy in all eigenstates up to exponentially small finite-size corrections. Chains of `parafermions'---generalized Majorana fermions---also support localized zero modes, but, curiously, only under much more restricted circumstances. We shed light on the enigmatic zero mode stability in parafermion chains by analytically and numerically studying the spectrum and developing an intuitive physical picture in terms of domain-wall dynamics. Specifically, we show that even if the system resides in a gapped topological phase with an exponentially accurate ground-state degeneracy, higher-energy states can exhibit a splitting that scales as a power law with system size---categorically ruling out exact localized zero modes. The transition to power-law behavior is described by critical behavior appearing exclusively within excited states.

Critical-entanglement spectrum of one-dimensional symmetry-protected topological phases

Under an appropriate symmetric extensive bipartition in a one-dimensional symmetry protected topological (SPT) phase, a bulk critical entanglement spectrum can be obtained, resembling the excitation spectrum of the critical point separating the SPT phase from the trivial (vacuum) state. Such a critical point is beyond the standard Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm for symmetry breaking phase transitions. For the $S=1$ SPT (Haldane) phase with the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki exact wave function, the resulting critical entanglement spectrum has a residual entropy per lattice site $s_{r}=0.67602$, showing a delocalized version of the edge excitations in the SPT phase. From the wave function corresponding to the lowest entanglement energy level, the central charge of the critical point can be extracted $c\approx 1.01\pm 0.01$. The critical theory can be identified as the same effective field theory as the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain or the spin-1/2 Haldane-Shastry model with inverse square long-range interaction.

AIII and BDI topological systems at strong disorder

Using an explicit 1-dimensional model, we provide direct evidence that the one-dimensional topological phases from the AIII and BDI symmetry classes follow a $\mathbb Z$-classification, even in the strong disorder regime when the Fermi level is embedded in a dense localized spectrum. The main tool for our analysis is the winding number $\nu$, in the non-commutative formulation introduced in I. Mondragon-Shem, J. Song, T. L. Hughes, and E. Prodan, arXiv:1311.5233. For both classes, by varying the parameters of the model and/or the disorder strength, a cascade of sharp topological transitions $\nu=0 \rightarrow \nu=1 \rightarrow \nu=2$ is generated, in the regime where the insulating gap is completely filled with the localized spectrum. We demonstrate that each topological transition is accompanied by an Anderson localization-delocalization transition. Furthermore, to explicitly rule out a $\mathbb Z_2$ classification, a topological transition between $\nu=0$ and $\nu=2$ is generated. These two phases are also found to be separated by an Anderson localization-delocalization transition, hence proving their distinct identity.

Interacting One-Dimensional Fermionic Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases

In free fermion systems with given symmetry and dimension, the possible topological phases are labeled by elements of only three types of Abelian groups, 0, Z2, or Z. For example, noninteracting one-dimensional fermionic superconducting phases with S(z) spin rotation and time-reversal symmetries are classified by Z. We show that with weak interactions, this classification reduces to Z4. Using group cohomology, one can additionally show that there are only four distinct phases for such one-dimensional superconductors even with strong interactions. Comparing their projective representations, we find that all these four symmetry-protected topological phases can be realized with free fermions. Further, we show that one-dimensional fermionic superconducting phases with Z(n) discrete S(z) spin rotation and time-reversal symmetries are classified by Z4 when n is even and Z2 when n is odd; again, all these strongly interacting topological phases can be realized by noninteracting fermions. Our approach can be applied to systems with other symmetries to see which one-dimensional topological phases can be realized with free fermions.