Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The interplay between topology and quantum criticality has established symmetry enriched criticality as a new paradigm beyond conventional frameworks in condensed matter and statistical physics. However, the conditions under which such criticality emerges remain poorly understood. In this work, we show that a broad class of symmetry enriched critical points separating symmetry protected topological (SPT) and spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) phases is governed by Kennedy Tasaki (KT) self duality. At these criticalities, the KT transformation that interchanges the SPT and SSB phases acts as a self-dual noninvertible symmetry, endowing the critical points with nontrivial topological characteristics. We numerically demonstrate this mechanism in $\mathbb{Z}_{n} \times \mathbb{Z}_{n}$ cluster qudit chains and further argue that it naturally extends to higher dimensions, providing a duality based criterion for identifying symmetry-enriched criticality across dimensions.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Chen, Mingyuan, Yang, Sheng, Yu, Xue-Jia
Institutions: Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, Zhejiang University
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2244945541, G2728073110
OpenAlex ID: W7223124715