Nature of a topological quantum phase transition in a chiral spin liquid model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the finite temperature quantum phase transition between Abelian and non-Abelian topological phases in a chiral spin liquid model, using exact solutions to analyze topological order and entanglement.

Contribution

It introduces an exactly solvable model to study topological quantum phase transitions and assesses topological order at finite temperature.

Findings

Finite temperature affects topological order

Global flux and entanglement entropy characterize the transition

Non-Abelian excitations' signatures are analyzed at finite T

Abstract

We study the finite temperature nature of a quantum phase transition between an Abelian and a non-Abelian topological phase in an exactly solvable model of a chiral spin liquid. By virtue of the exact solvability, this model can serve as a testbed for developing better measures for describing topological quantum phase transitions. We characterize this phase transition in terms of the global flux and entanglement entropy, and discuss to what extent the existence of a topologically ordered ground state with non-Abelian excitations is revealed at finite temperature.