The classification of symmetry protected topological phases of one-dimensional fermion systems

Abstract

We introduce an index for symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases of infinite fermionic chains with an on-site symmetry given by a finite group $G$. This index takes values in ${\mathbb{Z}}_2\times H^1(G,{\mathbb{Z}}_2)\times H^2(G,U(1{)}_{\mathfrak{p}})$ with a generalized Wall group law under stacking. We show that this index is an invariant of the classification of SPT phases. When the ground state is translation invariant and has reduced density matrices with uniformly bounded rank on finite intervals, we derive a fermionic matrix product representative of this state with on-site symmetry.

To appear in Forum of Mathematics, Sigma