Parafermionic wires at the interface of chiral topological states

ORAL

Abstract

We discuss a scenario where local interactions form one-dimensional gapped interfaces between a pair of distinct chiral two-dimensional topological states such that each gapped region terminates at a domain wall separating the chiral gapless edge states of these phases. We show that this type of T-junction supports point-like fractionalized excitations obeying parafermion statistics, thus implying that the one-dimensional gapped interface forms an effective topological parafermionic wire possessing a non-trivial ground state degeneracy. The physical properties of the anyon condensate that gives rise to the gapped interface are investigated. Remarkably, this condensate causes the gapped interface to behave as a type of anyon ``Andreev reflector" in the bulk, whereby anyons from one phase, upon hitting the interface, can be transformed into a combination of reflected anyons and outgoing anyons from the other phase. Thus, we conclude that while different topological orders can be connected via gapped interfaces, the interfaces are themselves topological.

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Authors

  • Luiz Santos

    • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Taylor Hughes

    • University of Illinois
    • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
    • University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign