Crystalline equivalence principle for topological phases

Let GG be a spatial symmetry group acting on physical space XX, usually X=RdX=\mathbb{R}^d. Let X//GX//G be the homotopy quotient, defined up to homotopy equivalence by

X//G=(X×EG)/G,X//G=(X\times EG)/G,

where EGEG is contractible with a free action of GG, and GG acts diagonally on X×EGX\times EG. Let Θd\Theta_d be the space used to classify dd-dimensional topological phases.

Crystalline equivalence conjecture. The classification of SPT or SET topological phases in dd dimensions with spatial symmetry GG acting on XX is given by homotopy classes of maps

f:X//GΘd.f:X//G\to\Theta_d.

This extends the internal-symmetry classification to spatial symmetries and underlies the crystalline equivalence principle. For fermionic systems and bosonic systems with orientation-reversing symmetries, the paper says the statement must be modified so that the map becomes a section of a fiber bundle; the supplied text does not resolve the conjecture.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Dominic V. Else and Ryan Thorngren, “Crystalline topological phases as defect networks”, arXiv:1810.10539 (2019).

Progress summary

Never refreshed

Nothing recorded yet. Refresh searches the literature and the public web for attempts on this problem, and writes the first summary here.

Solutions 0

No solutions have been posted yet.