Xiao-Gang Wen1. 1. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract
It has long been thought that all different phases of matter arise from symmetry breaking. Without symmetry breaking, there would be no pattern, and matter would be featureless. However, it is now clear that for quantum matter at zero temperature, even symmetric disordered liquids can have features, giving rise to topological phases of quantum matter. Some of the topological phases are highly entangled (that is, have topological order), whereas others are weakly entangled (that is, have symmetry-protected trivial order). This Review provides a brief summary of these zero-temperature states of matter and their emergent properties, as well as their importance in unifying some of the most basic concepts in nature.
It has long been thought that all different phases of matter arise from symmetry breaking. Without symmetry breaking, there would be no pattern, and matter would be featureless. However, it is now clear that for quantum matter at zero temperature, even symmetric disordered liquids can have features, giving rise to topological phases of quantum matter. Some of the topological phases are highly entangled (that is, have topological order), whereas others are weakly entangled (that is, have symmetry-protected trivial order). This Review provides a brief summary of these zero-temperature states of matter and their emergent properties, as well as their importance in unifying some of the most basic concepts in nature.
Authors: Haoxiang Li; T T Zhang; A Said; G Fabbris; D G Mazzone; J Q Yan; D Mandrus; Gábor B Halász; S Okamoto; S Murakami; M P M Dean; H N Lee; H Miao Journal: Nat Commun Date: 2021-06-10 Impact factor: 14.919