Modular extensions of unitary braided fusion categories and 2+1D topological/SPT orders with symmetries

Abstract

A finite bosonic or fermionic symmetry can be described uniquely by a symmetric fusion category $\mathcal{E}$. In this work, we propose that 2+1D topological/SPT orders with a fixed finite symmetry $\mathcal{E}$ are classified, up to $E_8$ quantum Hall states, by the unitary modular tensor categories $\mathcal{C}$ over $\mathcal{E}$ and the modular extensions of each $\mathcal{C}$. In the case $\mathcal{C}=\mathcal{E}$, we prove that the set ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{E})$ of all modular extensions of $\mathcal{E}$ has a natural structure of a finite abelian group. We also prove that the set ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{C})$ of all modular extensions of $\mathcal{C}$, if not empty, is equipped with a natural ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{E})$-action that is free and transitive. Namely, the set ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{C})$ is an ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{E})$-torsor. As special cases, we explain in details how the group ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{E})$ recovers the well-known group-cohomology classification of the 2+1D bosonic SPT orders and Kitaev's 16 fold ways. We also discuss briefly the behavior of the group ${\mathcal{M}}_{ext}(\mathcal{E})$ under the symmetry-breaking processes and its relation to Witt groups.

32 pages; references updated; corrections and improvements; final version to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physics