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Symmetry-Enriched Fracton Phases from Supersolid Duality
Michael Pretko1, Leo Radzihovsky1
1Department of Physics and Center for Theory of Quantum Matter University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|December 22, 2018
Summary
This study introduces a hybrid gauge duality for supersolids, merging fracton gauge theory with boson-vortex duality. It reveals how vortex condensation drives phase transitions in fracton matter, linking crystalline and superfluid properties.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Quantum Field Theory
- Materials Science
Background:
- Recent advances established a duality between crystal elasticity and fracton tensor gauge theory.
- Understanding the interplay of crystalline and superfluid order in supersolids requires incorporating bosonic statistics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To derive a hybrid vector-tensor gauge dual of a supersolid by combining fracton gauge theory with boson-vortex duality.
- To elucidate the role of bosonic statistics in emergent phenomena within supersolids.
Main Methods:
- Combining established fracton tensor gauge theory with boson-vortex duality.
- Developing a hybrid gauge dual incorporating both crystalline (fracton) and superfluid (bosonic) degrees of freedom.
- Analyzing the effects of vortex condensation and fracton dipole/charge condensation within the dual theory.
Main Results:
- A hybrid gauge dual of a supersolid is derived, featuring a fracton state with dipole mobility governed by mutual axion electrodynamics.
- Vortex condensation restores U(1) symmetry, confines dipoles, and induces a phase transition between distinct fracton phases.
- Condensation of fracton dipoles and charges provides gauge dual descriptions for superhexatic and ordinary superfluid phases, respectively.
Conclusions:
- The derived gauge dual offers a unified framework for understanding supersolid behavior, encompassing both crystalline and superfluid aspects.
- The study demonstrates a mechanism preventing U(1)-symmetric phases at zero temperature without crystalline order, analogous to deconfined quantum criticality.
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