Spontaneously broken supersymmetric fracton phases with fermionic subsystem symmetries

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fermionic system exhibiting spontaneously broken supersymmetry with fracton-like properties, ground-state degeneracy, and subsystem symmetries, bridging supersymmetry and fracton phases.

Contribution

It constructs a novel fermionic model with supersymmetry breaking and subsystem symmetries, revealing new fracton-like behaviors and anomalies.

Findings

Model is gapless due to Nambu-Goldstone mechanism

Ground-state degeneracy exhibits area-law entropy

Strong coupling limit relates to Nicolai model with volume-law entropy

Abstract

We construct a purely fermionic system with spontaneously broken supersymmetry that shares the common feature with a fracton phase of matter. Our model is gapless due to the Nambu-Goldstone mechanism. It shows a ground-state degeneracy with the "Area-law" entropy due to fermionic subsystem symmetries. In the strongly coupled limit, it becomes a variant of the Nicolai model, and the ground-state degeneracy shows the "Volume-law" entropy. Gauging the fermionic subsystem symmetry has an t'Hooft anomaly by itself, but the would-be gauged theory may possess a fermionic defect that is immobile in certain spatial directions.