The Symmetry Taco: Equivalences between Gapped, Gapless, and Mixed-State SPTs

TL;DR

This paper extends the symmetry topological field theory framework to mixed quantum states using the concept of the symmetry taco, revealing new correspondences, classifications, and potential for exploring non-equilibrium phenomena in quantum matter.

Contribution

It introduces the symmetry taco, a bilayer topological order, to incorporate mixed states into the SymTFT framework, establishing new mappings and classifications for mixed-state SPTs.

Findings

Mapped gapless SPTs to gapped SPTs and mixed states.

Classified short-range correlated symmetric states.

Proposed systematic generation of mixed-state SPTs.

Abstract

Symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT), or topological holography, offers a unifying framework for describing quantum phases of matter and phase transitions between them. While this approach has seen remarkable success in describing gapped and gapless pure-state phases in $1+1$d, its applicability to open quantum systems remains entirely unexplored. In this work, we propose a natural extension of the SymTFT framework to mixed-state phases by introducing the \textit{symmetry taco}: a bilayer topological order in $2+1$d whose folded geometry naturally encapsulates both strong and weak symmetries of the $1+1$d theory. We use this perspective to identify a series of correspondences, including a one-to-one map between intrinsically gapless SPTs (igSPTs) and certain gapped SPTs, and a mapping between igSPTs and intrinsically average SPTs (iASPTs) arising in $1+1$d mixed states. More broadly, our framework yields a classification of short-range correlated $G$-symmetric Choi states in $1+1$d, provides a route for systematically generating mixed-state SPTs via local decoherence of igSPTs, and allows us to identify a new mixed-state ``anomaly". Besides folding in mixed-state phases into the SymTFT paradigm, the symmetry taco opens new avenues for exploring dualities, anomalies, and non-equilibrium criticality in mixed-state quantum matter.