Irrational charge from topological order

Abstract

Topological or deconfined phases of matter exhibit emergent gauge fields and quasiparticles that carry a corresponding gauge charge. In systems with an intrinsic conserved U(1) charge, such as all electronic systems where the Coulombic charge plays this role, these quasiparticles are also characterized by their intrinsic charge. We show that one can take advantage of the topological order fairly generally to produce periodic Hamiltonians which endow the quasiparticles with continuously variable, generically irrational, intrinsic charges. Examples include various topologically ordered lattice models, the three dimensional RVB liquid on bipartite lattices as well as water and spin ice. By contrast, the gauge charges of the quasiparticles retain their quantized values.

4 pages, 1 figure with two panels

References in corpus (5)

• Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation
• Magnetic Monopoles in Spin Ice
• Electron fractionalization in two-dimensional graphenelike structures
• Three dimensional resonating valence bond liquids and their excitations
• Irrational vs. rational charge and statistics in two-dimensional quantum systems

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• Diagnosing Deconfinement and Topological Order
• Candidate quantum spin ice in the pyrochlore Pr${}_2$Hf${}_2$O${}_7$
• The quantum origins of moment fragmentation in Nd2Zr2O7
• Classical dipoles on the kagome lattice
• AC Wien effect in spin ice, manifest in non-linear non-equilibrium susceptibility
• Higgsless superconductivity from topological defects in compact BF terms
• Seeing beyond the light: Vison and photon electrodynamics in quantum spin ice
• Analytical theory for proton correlations in common water ice $I_h$
• Superconductivity from Doublon Condensation in the Ionic Hubbard Model
• Exactly solvable spin-1/2 XYZ models with highly-degenerate, partially ordered, ground states
• Hybrid Dyons, inverted Lorentz force and magnetic Nernst effect in quantum spin ice
• Emergent Gauge Fields in Band Insulators
• Irrational moments and signatures of higher-rank gauge theories in diluted classical spin liquids
• Deconfined Fractionally Charged Excitation in Any Dimensions
• Emergent Higgsless Superconductivity
• Fractionally charged anyon generated by topological path fusion in magnetic flux lattice