Entropic order parameters for the phases of QFT

We propose entropic order parameters that capture the physics of generalized symmetries and phases in QFT’s. We do it through an analysis of simple properties (additivity and Haag duality) of the net of operator algebras attached to space-time regions. We observe that different types of symmetries are associated with the breaking of these properties in regions of different non-trivial topologies. When such topologies are connected, we show that the non locally generated operators generate an Abelian symmetry group, and their commutation relations are fixed. The existence of order parameters with area law, like the Wilson loop for the confinement phase, or the ’t Hooft loop for the dual Higgs phase, is shown to imply the existence of more than one possible choice of algebras for the same underlying theory. A natural entropic order parameter arises by this non-uniqueness. We display aspects of the phases of theories with generalized symmetries in terms of these entropic order parameters. In particular, the connection between constant and area laws for dual order and disorder parameters is transparent in this approach, new constraints arising from conformal symmetry are revealed, and the algebraic origin of the Dirac quantization condition (and generalizations thereof) is described. A novel tool in this approach is the entropic certainty relation satisfied by dual relative entropies associated with complementary regions, which quantitatively relates the statistics of order and disorder parameters.

Haag duality for Kitaev’s quantum double model for abelian groups

We prove Haag duality for cone-like regions in the ground state representation corresponding to the translational invariant ground state of Kitaev’s quantum double model for finite abelian groups. This property says that if an observable commutes with all observables localized outside the cone region, it actually is an element of the von Neumann algebra generated by the local observables inside the cone. This strengthens locality, which says that observables localized in disjoint regions commute. As an application, we consider the superselection structure of the quantum double model for abelian groups on an infinite lattice in the spirit of the Doplicher–Haag–Roberts program in algebraic quantum field theory. We find that, as is the case for the toric code model on an infinite lattice, the superselection structure is given by the category of irreducible representations of the quantum double.

ON HAAG DUALITY FOR PURE STATES OF QUANTUM SPIN CHAINS

In this note, we consider quantum spin chains and their translationally invariant pure states. We prove Haag duality for quasilocal observables localized in semi-infinite intervals (-∞ , 0] and [1, ∞) when the von Neumann algebra generated by observables localized in [0, ∞) is non-type I.

ENTANGLEMENT, HAAG-DUALITY AND TYPE PROPERTIES OF INFINITE QUANTUM SPIN CHAINS

We consider an infinite spin chain as a bipartite system consisting of the left and right half-chains and analyze entanglement properties of pure states with respect to this splitting. In this context, we show that the amount of entanglement contained in a given state is deeply related to the von Neumann type of the observable algebras associated to the half-chains. Only the type I case belongs to the usual entanglement theory which deals with density operators on tensor product Hilbert spaces, and only in this situation separable normal states exist. In all other cases, the corresponding state is infinitely entangled in the sense that one copy of the system in such a state is sufficient to distill an infinite amount of maximally entangled qubit pairs. We apply this results to the critical XY model and show that its unique ground state φS provides a particular example for this type of entanglement.

ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF THE VACUUM SECTOR FOR A THEORY OF SUPERSELECTION SECTORS

As a generalization of DHR analysis, the superselection sectors are studied in the absence of the spectrum condition for the reference representation. Considering a net of local observables in 4-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, we associate to a set of representations, that are local excitations of a reference representation fulfilling Haag duality, a symmetric tensor C*-category [Formula: see text] of bimodules of the net, with subobjects and direct sums. The existence of conjugates is studied introducing an equivalent formulation of the theory in terms of the presheaf associated with the observable net. This allows us to find, under the assumption that the local algebras in the reference representation are properly infinite, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of conjugates. Moreover, we present several results that suggest how the mentioned assumption on the reference representation can be considered essential also in the case of theories in curved spacetimes.