Symmetry-protected topological phases in two-leg SU(N) spin ladder with unequal spins

Abstract

Chiral Haldane phases are examples of one-dimensional topological states of matter which are protected by projective SU($N$) group (or its subgroup ${\mathbb{Z}}_N\times {\mathbb{Z}}_N$) with $N>2$. The unique feature of these symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases is that they are accompanied by inversion-symmetry breaking and the emergence of different left and right edge states which transform, for instance, respectively in the fundamental ($\mathbf{N}$) and anti-fundamental ($\overline{\mathbf{N}}$) representations of SU($N$). We show, by means of complementary analytical and numerical approaches, that these chiral SPT phases as well as the non-chiral ones are realized as the ground states of a generalized two-leg SU($N$) spin ladder in which the spins in the first chain transform in $\mathbf{N}$ and the second in $\overline{\mathbf{N}}$. In particular, we map out the phase diagram for $N=3$ and $4$ to show that {\em all} the possible symmetry-protected topological phases with projective SU($N$)-symmetry appear in this simple ladder model.

21 pages