Symmetric Fermion Mass Generation as Deconfined Quantum Criticality

Abstract

Massless 2+1D Dirac fermions arise in a variety of systems from graphene to the surfaces of topological insulators, where generating a mass is typically associated with breaking a symmetry. However, with strong interactions, a symmetric gapped phase can arise for multiples of eight Dirac fermions. A continuous quantum phase transition from the massless Dirac phase to this massive phase, which we term Symmetric Mass Generation (SMG), is necessarily beyond the Landau paradigm and is hard to describe even at the conceptual level. Nevertheless, such transition has been consistently observed in several numerical studies recently. Here, we propose a theory for the SMG transition which is reminiscent of deconfined criticality and involves emergent non-Abelian gauge fields coupled both to Dirac fermions and to critical Higgs bosons. We motivate the theory using an explicit parton construction and discuss predictions for numerics. Additionally, we show that the fermion Green's function is expected to undergo a zero to pole transition across the critical point.

12 papers, 4 figures, 3 appendices

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Cited by in corpus (48)

• Confinement transition of ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ gauge theories coupled to massless fermions: emergent QCD${}_3$ and $SO(5)$ symmetry
• An Adventure in Topological Phase Transitions in 3 + 1-D: Non-abelian Deconfined Quantum Criticalities and a Possible Duality
• Symmetric Mass Generation
• Signatures of a Deconfined Phase Transition on the Shastry-Sutherland Lattice: Applications to Quantum Critical SrCu${}_2$(BO${}_3$)${}_2$
• Quantum phase transitions beyond Landau-Ginzburg theory in one-dimensional space revisited
• The emergence of gapless quantum spin liquid from deconfined quantum critical point
• Comments on Symmetric Mass Generation in 2d and 4d
• Symmetry protected topological phases under decoherence
• Symmetric Mass Generation in the 1+1 Dimensional Chiral Fermion 3-4-5-0 Model
• Gapped Chiral Fermions
• Phase diagram, symmetry breaking, and critical behavior of three-dimensional lattice multiflavor scalar chromodynamics
• Field-induced QCD${}_3$-Chern-Simons quantum criticalities in Kitaev materials
• Fermion-bag inspired Hamiltonian lattice field theory for fermionic quantum criticality
• Anomalies and symmetric mass generation for Kaehler-Dirac fermions
• Three-dimensional lattice multiflavor scalar chromodynamics: interplay between global and gauge symmetries
• Gauge Enhanced Quantum Criticality Between Grand Unifications: Categorical Higher Symmetry Retraction
• Electronic properties, correlated topology and Green's function zeros
• Disorder Operator and Rényi Entanglement Entropy of Symmetric Mass Generation
• Deconfined metallic quantum criticality: A $U(2)$ gauge-theoretic approach
• Chiral Lattice Fermions From Staggered Fields
• Topology and strong four fermion interactions in four dimensions
• A UV perspective on mixed anomalies at critical points between bosonic symmetry-protected phases
• What Symmetries are Preserved by a Fermion Boundary State?
• Fermi Surface Symmetric Mass Generation
• Spin Liquids and Pseudogap Metals in $SU(4)$ Hubbard Model in Moiré Superlattice
• Gauge Enhanced Quantum Criticality Beyond the Standard Model
• Emergent Symmetry in Quantum Phase Transitions: From Deconfined Quantum Critical Point to Gapless Quantum Spin Liquid
• Quantum criticality with emergent symmetry in the extended Shastry-Sutherland model
• Edge zeros and boundary spinons in topological Mott insulators
• Fermion-induced quantum critical point in Dirac semimetals: a sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo study
• Topological Green's function zeros in an exactly solved model and beyond
• Conformal Field Theories generated by Chern Insulators under Quantum Decoherence
• Symmetry-protected gapless spin liquids on the strained honeycomb lattice
• Definition and Classification of Fermi Surface Anomalies
• Emergent self-duality in long range critical spin chain: from deconfined criticality to first order transition
• Limits to magnetic quantum criticality from nuclear spins
• Notes on 8 Majorana Fermions
• Dual dynamic scaling in deconfined quantum criticality
• Dynamic mass generation and topological order in overscreened Kondo lattices
• Hamiltonian models of lattice fermions solvable by the meron-cluster algorithm
• Lattice Regularization of Reduced Kähler-Dirac Fermions and Connections to Chiral Fermions
• Topological Gap Opening without Symmetry Breaking from Dynamical Quantum Correlations
• A search for correlation-induced adiabatic paths between distinct topological insulators
• Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Dirac Quantum Criticality in Imaginary Time
• Deconfined criticality as intrinsically gapless topological state in one dimension
• Simulations of $SU(2)$ lattice gauge theory with dynamical reduced staggered fermions
• Fermion Mass Generation without Symmetry Breaking
• Fate of surface gaps in magnetic topological insulators