Publications

Quantum Hall plateaus at quarter fillings occur in GaAs wide quantum wells, hole-doped GaAs, and bilayer graphene. However, the interactions favoring incompressible states over compressible composite-Fermi liquids at such fillings are not well understood. We devise a method for the computation of the trial energies for Haldane pseudopotentials via Monte Carlo sampling. Applying it to the quarter-filled lowest Landau level, we find that tuning the third and fifth pseudopotential values can stabilize the anti-Pfaffian, Moore-Read, and f-wave states. The smallest deviations from pure Coulomb interactions are required by anti-Pfaffian, whose presence is indicated by daughter states in recent experiments of bilayer graphene at ν=34.

Position exchange of non-Abelian anyons affects the quantum state of their system in a topologically-protected way. Their expected manifestations in even-denominator fractional quantum Hall (FQH) systems offer the opportunity to directly study their unique statistical properties in interference experiments. In this work, we present the observation of coherent Aharonov-Bohm interference at two even-denominator states in high-mobility bilayer graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures by employing the Fabry-Pérot interferometry (FPI) technique. Operating the interferometer at a constant filling factor, we observe an oscillation period corresponding to two flux quanta inside the interference loop, ΔΦ=2Φ0, at which the interference does not carry signatures of non-Abelian statistics. The absence of the expected periodicity of ΔΦ=4Φ0 may indicate that the interfering quasiparticles carry the charge e∗=12e or that interference of e∗=14e quasiparticles is thermally smeared. Interestingly, at two hole-conjugate states, we also observe oscillation periods of half the expected value, indicating interference of e∗=23e quasiparticles instead of e∗=13e. To probe statistical phase contributions, we operated the FPI with controlled deviations of the filling factor, thereby introducing fractional quasiparticles inside the interference loop. The resulting changes to the interference patterns at both half-filled states indicate that the additional bulk quasiparticles carry the fundamental charge e∗=14e, as expected for non-Abelian anyons.

We introduce a spin ladder with discrete symmetries designed to emulate a two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson system at half-filling. Using global properties, such as the structure of topological defects, we establish a correspondence between the two systems and construct a dictionary of symmetries and operators. In particular, translation invariance leads to Lieb-Schultz-Mattis constraints for both systems, resulting in exotic deconfined quantum critical points. Subsequently, we study the spin ladder in detail. An exact duality transformation maps it onto a Z2 gauge theory of three partons, analogous to the U(1) gauge theory of chargons and spinons in two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson systems. With the mapping between spins and partons, we construct exactly solvable models for all pertinent symmetry-breaking phases and analyze their transitions. We further make connections between our exact analysis and conventional parton gauge theories.

Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference in fractional quantum Hall states generally reveals the fractional charge e∗ of their elementary quasiparticles. Indeed, flux periods of ΔΦ=(e/e∗)Φ0 were observed in interference of particle-like fractional states. Here, we report interference measurements of particle-hole conjugated states at filling factors ν=2/3,3/5,4/7, revealing the unexpected periodicities, ΔΦ=Φ0/ν. Moreover, the measured shot noise Fano factor (F) of partitioned quasiparticles in the interferometers quantum point contacts (QPCs) was F=ν and not the expected F=e∗/e. These combined observations indicate that fractional quasiparticles tunnel in the QPCs and interfere as coherently bunched pairs, triples, and quadruplets, respectively. Charging a small metallic gate in the center of the two-path interferometer forms an antidot (or a dot) and introduces local quasiparticles, leading, unexpectedly, to a dissociation of the bunched quasiparticles, thus restoring the flux periodicity set by the elementary quasiparticle charge. The surprising observations of bunching and dissociation, unsupported by current theory, suggest similar effects in particle-like states at lower temperatures.

Multiple topologically distinct quantum Hall phases can occur at the same Landau level filling factor. It is a major challenge to distinguish between these phases as they only differ by the neutral modes, which do not affect the charge conductance in conventional geometries. We show that the neutral sector can be determined with coherent charge conductance in a π-shaped geometry that interfaces three different filling factors. Specifically, non-Abelian paired states at a half-filled Landau level and the anti-Read-Rezayi state can be identified. Interestingly, for interfaces between paired states and Jain states, the electric current in the π geometry behaves as if pairs of neutral Majoranas edge modes were charge modes of Jain states.

Measurements can qualitatively alter correlations and entanglement emerging in gapless quantum matter. We show how a single round of measurements on gapless quantum systems can, upon rotating the measurement basis, induce non-trivial transitions separating regimes displaying universal characteristics governed by distinct boundary conformal field theories. We develop the theory of such `measurement-induced boundary transitions' by investigating a gapless parent of the one-dimensional cluster state, obtained by appropriately symmetrizing a commuting projector Hamiltonian for the latter. Projective measurements on the cluster state are known to convert the wavefunction, after post-selection or decoding, into a long-range-ordered Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. Similar measurements applied to the gapless parent (i) generate long-range order coexisting with power-law correlations when post-selecting for uniform outcomes, and (ii) yield power-law correlations distinct from those in the pre-measurement state upon decoding. In the post-selection scenario, rotating the measurement basis preserves long-range order up until a critical tilt angle marking a measurement-induced boundary transition to a power-law-ordered regime. Such a transition -- which does not exist in the descendant cluster state -- establishes new connections between measurement effects on many-body states and non-trivial renormalization-group flows. We extend our analysis to tricritical Ising and three-state Potts critical theories, which also display measurement-induced boundary transitions, and propose general criteria for their existence in other settings.

The Kitaev honeycomb model supports gapless and gapped quantum spin liquid phases. Its exact solvability relies on extensively many locally conserved quantities. Any real-world manifestation of these phases would include imperfections in the form of disorder and interactions that break integrability. We show that the latter qualitatively alters the properties of vacancies in the gapless Kitaev spin liquid: (i) Isolated vacancies carry a magnetic moment, which is absent in the exactly solvable case. (ii) Pairs of vacancies on even or opposite sublattices gap each other with distinct power laws that reveal the presence of emergent gauge flux.

Fractional quantum statistics are a signature prediction of fractional quantum Hall states, which have long been elusive in experiments. Here, we present the observation of anyonic interference and exchange phases in a novel co-propagating 'optical-like' Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. This architecture is free of charging and backscattering effects that often plague the widely used Fabry-Perot interferometer, thus exhibiting pristine Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference without fractional phase slips. We studied the three lowest Jain filling factors, {\nu}=1/3, 2/5, and 3/7, which host quasiparticles with fractional charges e*=e/3, e/5, and e/7, respectively. The observed AB interference patterns, plotted as a function of magnetic field B and modulation-gate voltage, VMG (known as pajamas), exhibited the expected flux periodicities: 3{\Phi}0, 5{\Phi}0, and 7{\Phi}0, with {\Phi}0 being the flux quantum. A small biased top gate (TG) deposited in the center of the interferometer induces local quasiparticles that are spatially isolated from the interfering modes. At non-zero TG voltage VTG, quantized phase slips appear in the AB pajamas approximately with every flux quantum that pierces the effective area below the TG. Moreover, when tuning VTG, at a constant magnetic field, abrupt phase jumps corresponding to adding one localized quasiparticle at a time under the top gate appear in the B-VTG pajamas.

Recent quantum Hall experiments have observed "daughter states"next to several plateaus at half-integer filling factors in various platforms. These states were first proposed based on model wave functions for the Moore-Read state by Levin and Halperin. We show that these daughters and their parents belong to an extensive family tree that encompasses all pairing channels and permits a unified description in terms of weakly interacting composite fermions. Each daughter represents a bosonic integer quantum Hall state formed by composite-fermion pairs. The pairing of the parent dictates an additional number of filled composite-fermion Landau levels. We support our field-theoretic composite-fermion treatment by using the K-matrix formalism, analysis of trial wave functions, and a coupled-wire construction. Our analysis yields the topological orders, quantum numbers, and experimental signatures of all daughters of paired states at half-filling and "next-generation"even denominators. Crucially, no two daughters share the same two parents. The unique parentage implies that Hall conductance measurements alone could pinpoint the topological order of even-denominator plateaus. Additionally, we propose a numerically suitable trial wave function for one daughter of the SU(2)2 topological order, which arises at filling factor ν=611. Finally, our insights explain experimentally observed features of transitions in wide-quantum wells, such as suppression of the Jain states with the simultaneous development of half-filled and daughter states.

Bilayer graphene has emerged as a key platform for studying non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. Its multiple half-filled plateaus with large energy gaps combined with its tunability offer an opportunity to distill the principles that determine their topological order. Here, we report four additional plateaus at ν=12 for different spin and valley, revealing a systematic pattern of non-Abelian states according to their Levin--Halperin daughter states. Whenever a pair of N=1 Landau levels cross, anti-Pfaffian and Pfaffian develop at half filling of the lower and higher levels, respectively. In the N=0 levels, where half-filled plateaus are absent, we instead observe four unexpected incompressible quarter-filled states along with daughters. The mutual exclusion of half- and quarter-filled states indicates a robust competition between the interactions favoring either paired states of two-flux or four-flux composite fermions. Finally, we observe several FQH states that require strong interactions between composite fermions. Our combined findings herald a new generation of quantum Hall physics in graphene-based heterostructures.

We study the entanglement spectra of surface states of symmetry-protected topological phases. The topological bulk imprints the surface with an anomaly that does not permit it to form a trivial "vacuum"state that is gapped, unfractionalized, and symmetry preserving. Any surface wave function encodes the topology of the underlying bulk in addition to a specific surface phase. We show that the real-space entanglement spectrum of such surface wave functions are dominated by the bulk topology and do not readily permit identifying the surface phase. We thus use a modified form of entanglement spectra that incorporates the anomaly and argue that they correspond to physical edge states between different surface states. We support these arguments by explicit analytical and numerical calculations for free and interacting surfaces of three-dimensional topological insulators of electrons.

Non-Abelian phases are among the most highly sought states of matter, with those whose anyons permit universal quantum gates constituting the ultimate prize. The most promising candidate of such a phase is the fractional quantum Hall plateau at filling factors ν=125, which putatively facilitates Fibonacci anyons. Experimental validation of this assertion poses a major challenge and remains elusive. We present a measurement protocol that could achieve this goal with already-demonstrated experimental techniques. Interfacing the ν=125 state with any readily available Abelian state yields a binary outcome of upstream noise or no noise. Judicious choices of the Abelian states can produce a sequence of yes-no outcomes that fingerprint the possible non-Abelian phase by ruling out its competitors. Crucially, this identification is insensitive to the precise value of the measured noise and can uniquely identify the anyon type at filling factors ν=125. In addition, it can distinguish any non-Abelian candidates at half-filling in graphene and semiconductor heterostructures.

The Kitaev honeycomb model, which is exactly solvable by virtue of an extensive number of conserved quantities, supports a gapless quantum spin liquid phase as well as gapped descendants relevant for fault-tolerant quantum computation. We show that the anomalous edge modes of one-dimensional (1D) cluster-state-like symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases provide natural building blocks for a variant of the Kitaev model that enjoys only a subextensive number of conserved quantities. The symmetry of our variant allows a single additional nearest-neighbor perturbation, corresponding to an anisotropic version of the Γ term studied in the context of Kitaev materials. We determine the phase diagram of the model using exact diagonalization. Additionally, we use the density matrix renormalization group to show that the underlying 1D SPT building blocks can emerge from a ladder Hamiltonian exhibiting only two-spin interactions supplemented by a Zeeman field. Our approach may provide a pathway toward realizing Kitaev honeycomb spin liquids in spin-orbit-coupled Mott insulators.

Symmetry-resolved entanglement is a useful tool for characterizing symmetry-protected topological states. In two dimensions, their entanglement spectra are described by conformal field theories but the symmetry resolution is largely unexplored. However, addressing this problem numerically requires system sizes beyond the reach of exact diagonalization. Here, we develop tensor-network methods that can access much larger systems and determine universal and nonuniversal features in their entanglement. Specifically, we construct one-dimensional matrix product operators that encapsulate all the entanglement data of two-dimensional symmetry-protected topological states. We first demonstrate our approach for the Levin-Gu model. Next, we use the cohomology formalism to deform the phase away from the fine-tuned point and track the evolution of its entanglement features and their symmetry resolution. The entanglement spectra are always described by the same conformal field theory. However, the levels undergo a spectral flow in accordance with an insertion of a many-body Aharonov-Bohm flux.

Strong interactions between electrons in two dimensions can realize phases where their spins and charges separate. We capture this phenomenon within a dual formulation. Focusing on square lattices, we analyze the long-wavelength structure of vortices when the microscopic particles - electrons or spinful bosons - are near half-filling. These conditions lead to a compact gauge theory of spinons and chargons, which arise as the fundamental topological defects of the low-energy vortices. The gauge theory formulation is particularly suitable for studying numerous exotic phases and transitions. We support the general analysis by an exact implementation of the duality on a coupled-wire array. Finally, we demonstrate how the latter can be exploited to construct parent Hamiltonians for fractional phases and their transitions.

Electrons undergoing a Mott transition may shed their charge but persist as neutral excitations of a quantum spin liquid (QSL). We introduce concrete two-dimensional models exhibiting this exotic behavior as they transition from superconducting or topological phases into fully charge-localized insulators. We study these Mott transitions and the confinement of neutral fermions at a second transition into a symmetry-broken phase. In the process, we also derive coupled-wire parent Hamiltonians for a non-Abelian QSL and a Z₄ QSL.

We propose an experiment to identify the topological order of the nu = 5/2 state through a measurement of the electric conductance of a mesoscopic device. Our setup is based on interfacing nu = 2, 5/2, and 3 in the same device. Its conductance can unambiguously establish or rule out the particle-hole symmetric Pfaffian topological order, which is supported by recent thermal measurements. Additionally, it distinguishes between the Moore-Read and anti-Pfaffian topological orders, which are favored by numerical calculations.

Quantum Hall states can harbor exotic quantum phases. The nature of these states is reflected in the gapless edge modes owing to bulk-edge correspondence. The most-studied putative non-abelian state is the spin-polarized filling factor ν = 5/2, which permits different topological orders that can be abelian or non-abelian. We develop a method that interfaces the studied quantum state with another state, and employ it to identify the topological order of the ν = 5/2 state. The interface between two half-planes, one hosting the ν = 5/2 state and the other an integer ν = 3 state, supports a fractional ν = 1/2 charge mode and a neutral Majorana mode. The counter-propagating chirality of the Majorana mode, probed by measuring partition noise, is consistent with the particle-hole Pfaffian (PH-Pf) topological order and rules out the anti-Pfaffian order.

The quest for non-Abelian quasiparticles has inspired decades of experimental and theoretical efforts, where the scarcity of direct probes poses a key challenge. Among their clearest signatures is a thermal Hall conductance with quantized half-integer value in units of κ0=π2kB2T/3h (T is temperature, h the Planck constant, kB the Boltzmann constant). Such values were recently observed in a quantum-Hall system and a magnetic insulator. We show that nontopological "thermal metal"phases that form due to quenched disorder may disguise as non-Abelian phases by well approximating the trademark quantized thermal Hall response. Remarkably, the quantization here improves with temperature, in contrast to fully gapped systems. We provide numerical evidence for this effect and discuss its possible implications for the aforementioned experiments.

The fractionalization of microscopic degrees of freedom is a remarkable manifestation of strong interactions in quantum many-body systems. Analytical studies of this phenomenon are primarily based on two distinct frameworks: field theories of partons and emergent gauge fields, or coupled arrays of one-dimensional quantum wires. We unify these approaches for two-dimensional spin systems. Via exact manipulations, we demonstrate how parton gauge theories arise in microscopic wire arrays and explicitly relate spin operators to emergent quasiparticles and gauge-field monopoles. This correspondence allows us to compute physical correlation functions within both formulations and leads to a straightforward algorithm for constructing parent Hamiltonians for a wide range of exotic phases. We exemplify this technique for several chiral and nonchiral quantum spin liquids.

We introduce a family of paired-composite-fermion trial wave functions for any odd Cooper-pair angular momentum. These wave functions are parameter-free and can be efficiently projected into the lowest Landau level. We use large-scale Monte Carlo simulations to study three cases: Firstly, the Moore-Read phase, which serves us as a benchmark. Secondly, we explore the pairing associated with the anti-Pfaffian and the particle-hole-symmetric Pfaffian. Specifically, we assess whether their trial states feature exponentially decaying correlations and thus represent gapped phases of matter. For Moore-Read and anti-Pfaffian we find decay lengths of ζMoore-Read=1.30(5) and ζanti-Pfaffian=1.38(14), in units of the magnetic length. By contrast, for the case of PH-Pfaffian, we find no evidence of a finite length scale for up to 56 particles.

Time crystals form when arbitrary physical states of a periodically driven system spontaneously break discrete time-translation symmetry. We introduce one-dimensional time-crystalline topological superconductors, for which time-translation symmetry breaking and topological physics intertwine-yielding anomalous Floquet Majorana modes that are not possible in free-fermion systems. Such a phase exhibits a bulk magnetization that returns to its original form after two drive periods, together with Majorana end modes that recover their initial form only after four drive periods. We propose experimental implementations and detection schemes for this new state.

We introduce (3+1)-dimensional models of short-range-interacting electrons that form a strongly correlated many-body state whose low-energy excitations are relativistic neutral fermions coupled to an emergent gauge field, QED4. We discuss the properties of this critical state and its instabilities towards exotic phases such as a gapless "composite" Weyl semimetal and fully gapped topologically ordered phases that feature anyonic pointlike as well as linelike excitations. These fractionalized phases describe electronic insulators. They may be further enriched by symmetries which result in the formation of nontrivial surface states.

Parafermion zero modes are generalizations of Majorana modes that underlie comparatively rich non-Abeliananyon properties. We introduce exact mappings that connect parafermion chains, which can emerge in two-dimensional fractionalized media, to strictly one-dimensional fermionic systems. In particular, we show that parafermion zero modes in the former setting translate into symmetry-enriched Majorana modes that intertwine with a bulk order parameter-yielding braiding and fusion properties that are impossible in standard Majorana platforms. Fusion characteristics of symmetry-enriched Majorana modes are directly inherited from the associated parafermion setup and can be probed via two kinds of anomalous pumping cycles that we construct. Most notably, our mappings relate Z(4) parafermions to conventional electrons with time-reversal symmetry. In this case, one of our pumping protocols entails fairly minimal experimental requirements: Cycling a weakly correlated wire between a trivial phase and time-reversal-invariant topological superconducting state produces an edge magnetization with quadrupled periodicity. Our work highlights new avenues for exploring beyond-Majorana physics in experimentally relevant one-dimensional electronic platforms, including proximitized ferromagnetic chains.

We numerically assess model wave functions for the recently proposed particle-hole-symmetric Pfaffian ("PHP-faffian") topological order, a phase consistent with the recently reported thermal Hall conductance [M. Banerjee et al., Nature 559, 205 (2018)] at the ever enigmatic v = 5/2 quantum Hall plateau. We find that the most natural Moore-Read-inspired trial state for the PH-Pfaffian, when projected into the lowest Landau level, exhibits a remarkable numerical similarity on accessible system sizes with the corresponding (compressible) composite Fermi liquid. Consequently, this PH-Pfaffian trial state performs reasonably well energetically in the half-filled lowest Landau level, but is likely not a good starting point for understanding the v = 5/2 ground state. Our results suggest that the PH-Pfaffian model wave function either encodes anomalously weak p-wave pairing of composite fermions or fails to represent a gapped, incompressible phase altogether.

The thermal Hall conductance in the half-filled first Landau level was recently measured to take the quantized noninteger value κxy=5/2 (in units of temperature times π2kB2/3h), which indicates a non-Abelian phase of matter. Such exotic states have long been predicted to arise at this filling factor, but the measured value disagrees with numerical studies, which predict κxy=3/2 or 7/2. We resolve this contradiction by invoking the disorder-induced formation of mesoscopic puddles with locally κxy=3/2 or 7/2. Interactions between these puddles generate a coherent macroscopic state that exhibits a plateau with quantized κxy=5/2. The non-Abelian quasiparticles characterizing this phase are distinct from those of the microscopic puddles and, by the same mechanism, could even emerge from a system comprised of microscopic Abelian puddles.

Recent work on a family of boson-fermion mappings has emphasized the interplay of symmetry and duality: Phases related by a particle-vortex duality of bosons (fermions) are related by time-reversal symmetry in their fermionic (bosonic) formulation. We present exact mappings for a number of concrete models that make this property explicit on the operator level. We illustrate the approach with one-and two-dimensional quantum Ising models and then similarly explore the duality web of complex bosons and Dirac fermions in (2 + 1) dimensions. We generalize the latter to systems with long-range interactions and discover a continuous family of dualities embedding the previously studied cases.