arXiv subjects

Weiguang Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Weiguang Cao.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Distinct finite-temperature phase diagrams of non-invertible Kennedy--Tasaki duals

Do two Hamiltonians related by a non-invertible transformation necessarily share the same finite-temperature phase diagram? For a cluster-model interpolation $H(s)$ and its Kennedy--Tasaki dual $\tilde H(s)$, the map is a partial isometry and equates only their all-plus-sector partition functions. In one dimension, thermal order is forbidden on both sides, leaving only the common zero-temperature transition at $s=\tfrac12$. In three dimensions, however, the inequivalence is exact already at $s=0$: the cluster model has an analytic paramagnetic free energy, whereas its dual $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge theory has a deconfinement transition at $T_c\approx1.31$. Quantum Monte Carlo shows that the mismatch occupies a finite window of the interpolation, marked by a self-dual frozen wedge on the cluster side and a deconfined dome on the gauge side; once both close the two phase diagrams agree again, coinciding over the entire remaining interval up to the shared trivial endpoint $s=1$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Quantized topological invariant of symmetry-projected Gibbs states

We study Gibbs states projected onto the symmetric sector of contractible one-form symmetries. In a three-dimensional cluster-model interpolation, this projection stabilizes symmetry-protected topological and projected-paramagnetic phases, both sharply distinct from thermal disorder. A flux-twisted membrane invariant distinguishes these three phases by the values $-1,+1,0$, respectively. These values are exact on the endpoint, self-dual, zero-temperature, and infinite-temperature lines; elsewhere their quantization requires positive spatial-sheet, winding-line, and interface tensions. Quantum Monte Carlo supports the quantization through tension diagnostics and direct finite-size estimates.

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arXiv2026

Lattice Gauging Interfaces and Noninvertible Defects in Higher Dimensions

We study gauging interfaces and their defect descendants in lattice models with generalized symmetries in higher dimensions. We construct explicit interface Hamiltonians for gauging a $\mathbb Z_2^{(0)}$ symmetry in $(2+1)d$ and a $\mathbb Z_2^{(1)}$ symmetry in $(3+1)d$. In higher dimensions, and especially in the presence of higher-form symmetries, the topological nature of gauging interfaces is obscured by the fact that the constrained Hilbert space depends on the location of the interface. We resolve this by introducing movement operators acting on a common unconstrained Hilbert space, which transport both the interface Hamiltonians and the associated constraints. As applications, we analyze condensation defects obtained from finite-region gauging and reconstruct the gauging map from movement operators. Finally, we apply the same framework to subgroup gauging, focusing on the example of gauging $\mathbb Z_2\subset \mathbb Z_4$. This produces a dual symmetry carrying a mixed anomaly, which we diagnose on the lattice through symmetry fractionalization on condensation defects. Our results provide an explicit lattice framework for studying topological interfaces, condensation defects, and the associated anomalies arising from gauging in higher-dimensional systems.

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arXiv2026

Understanding deconfined quantum critical points from crystalline categorical Landau paradigm

Deconfined quantum critical points (DQCPs) involving lattice symmetries evade the conventional Landau paradigm because the competing orders break incompatible internal and crystalline symmetries. We show that a class of DQCPs can nevertheless be understood as Landau-type transitions after gauging anomalous onsite symmetries. For spin chains with Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) anomalies, gauging produces a noninvertible lattice translation whose fusion closes only up to ordinary translations, giving rise to a crystalline categorical symmetry. In the gauged description, the original DQCP becomes a transition between different symmetry breaking patterns of this categorical symmetry. We demonstrate this mechanism in microscopic lattice models; the magnetic-valence-bond-solid (VBS) DQCP realizes a Rep($D_8$)-type crystalline categorical Landau transition, whereas a y-antiferromagnetic-VBS DQCP realizes a Rep($H_8$)-type one. Although Rep($D_8$) and Rep($H_8$) share the same fusion rules, they have inequivalent $F$-symbols and therefore define distinct categorical descriptions. Our results show that the universal categorical structure underlying these DQCPs is encoded in the full fusion category, rather than in the fusion ring alone.

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arXiv2026

Generalized symmetry-protected topological phases in mixed states from gauging dualities

Decoherence in realistic quantum platforms motivates a mixed-state notion of topological phases of matter, including average symmetry-protected topological (ASPT) phases. Alongside this progress, generalized symmetries--notably noninvertible and dipole symmetries--have become powerful organizing principles for exotic quantum phases, yet their implications for mixed states remain less explored. In this work, we bridge these directions through a gauging correspondence between mixed-state phases with generalized symmetries and mixed-state phases with ordinary group symmetries, recasting the classification of noninvertible and dipole ASPT phases into familiar classifications of symmetry breaking and ASPT phases with dual symmetries. Using this approach, we classify and construct a subclass of ASPT phases with non-invertible and dipole symmetries in $(1+1)d$, including phases that are intrinsic to mixed states, and characterize them via string order parameters and protected edge modes.

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arXiv2026

Duality viewpoint of noninvertible symmetry protected topological phases

Recent advancements in generalized symmetries have drawn significant attention to gapped phases of matter exhibiting novel symmetries, such as noninvertible symmetries. By leveraging the duality transformations, the classification and construction of gapped phases with noninvertible symmetry can be mapped to those involving conventional group symmetries. We demonstrate this approach by classifying symmetry-protected-topological phases with a broad class of noninvertible symmetries in arbitrary spacetime dimensions. Our results reveal new classifications that extend beyond those based on group symmetries. Additionally, we construct lattice models in $(1+1)D$ and $(2+1)D$ that realize these new phases and explore their anomalous interfaces.

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arXiv2025

Modulated symmetries from generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomalies

Symmetries rigidly delimit the landscape of quantum matter. Recently uncovered spatially modulated symmetries, whose actions vary with position, enable excitations with restricted mobility, while Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) type anomalies impose sharp constraints on which lattice phases are realizable. In one dimensional a spin chain, gauging procedures have linked modulated symmetry to LSM type anomaly, but a general understanding beyond 1D remains incomplete. We show that spatially modulated symmetries and their associated dipole algebras naturally emerge from gauging ordinary symmetries in the presence of generalized LSM type anomalies. We construct explicit lattice models in two and three spatial dimensions and develop complementary field theoretic descriptions in arbitrary spatial dimensions that connect LSM anomaly inflow to higher-group symmetry structures governing the modulated symmetries. Our results provide a unified, nonperturbative framework that ties together LSM constraints and spatially modulated symmetries across dimensions.

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arXiv2025

Global symmetries of quantum lattice models under non-invertible dualities

Non-invertible dualities/symmetries have become an important tool in the study of quantum field theories and quantum lattice models in recent years. One of the most studied examples is non-invertible dualities obtained by gauging a discrete group. When the physical system has more global symmetries than the gauged symmetry, it has not been thoroughly investigated how those global symmetries transform under non-invertible duality. In this paper, we study the change of global symmetries under non-invertible duality of gauging a discrete group $G$ in the context of (1+1)-dimensional quantum lattice models. We obtain the global symmetries of the dual model by focusing on different Hilbert space sectors determined by the $\mathrm{Rep}(G)$ symmetry. We provide general conjectures of global symmetries of the dual model forming an algebraic ring of the double cosets. We present concrete examples of the XXZ models and the duals, providing strong evidence for the conjectures.

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arXiv2025

Matrix product state classification of 1D multipole symmetry protected topological phases

Spatially modulated symmetries are one of the new types of symmetries whose symmetry actions are position dependent. Yet exotic phases resulting from these spatially modulated symmetries are not fully understood and classified. In this work, we systematically classify one dimensional bosonic symmetry protected topological phases protected respecting multipole symmetries by employing matrix product state formalism. The symmetry action induces projective representations at the ends of an open chain, which we identify via group cohomology. In particular, for $r$-pole symmetries, for instance, $r$ = 0 (global), 1 (dipole), and 2 (quadrupole), the classification is determined by distinct components of second cohomology groups that encode the boundary projective representations.

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arXiv2025

Renormalization and non-renormalization of scalar EFTs at higher orders

We renormalize massless scalar effective field theories (EFTs) to higher loop orders and higher orders in the EFT expansion. To facilitate EFT calculations with the R* renormalization method, we construct suitable operator bases using Hilbert series and related ideas in commutative algebra and conformal representation theory, including their novel application to off-shell correlation functions. We obtain new results ranging from full one loop at mass dimension twelve to five loops at mass dimension six. We explore the structure of the anomalous dimension matrix with an emphasis on its zeros, and investigate the effects of conformal and orthonormal operators. For the real scalar, the zeros can be explained by a `non-renormalization' rule recently derived by Bern et al. For the complex scalar we find two new selection rules for mixing $n$- and $(n-2)$-field operators, with $n$ the maximal number of fields at a fixed mass dimension. The first appears only when the $(n-2)$-field operator is conformal primary, and is valid at one loop. The second appears in more generic bases, and is valid at three loops. Finally, we comment on how the Hilbert series we construct may be used to provide a systematic enumeration of a class of evanescent operators that appear at a particular mass dimension in the scalar EFT.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Generating Lattice Non-invertible Symmetries

Lattice non-invertible symmetries have rich fusion structures and play important roles in understanding various exotic topological phases. In this paper, we explore methods to generate new lattice non-invertible transformations/symmetries from a given non-invertible seed transformation/symmetry. The new lattice non-invertible symmetry is constructed by composing the seed transformations on different sites or sandwiching a unitary transformation between the transformations on the same sites. In addition to known non-invertible symmetries with fusion algebras of Tambara-Yamagami $\mathbb Z_N\times\mathbb Z_N$ type, we obtain a new non-invertible symmetry in models with $\mathbb Z_N$ dipole symmetries. We name the latter the dipole Kramers-Wannier symmetry because it arises from gauging the dipole symmetry. We further study the dipole Kramers-Wannier symmetry in depth, including its topological defect, its anomaly and its associated generalized Kennedy-Tasaki transformation.

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arXiv2024

Noninvertible Symmetry-Enriched Quantum Critical Point

Noninvertible symmetry generalizes traditional group symmetries, advancing our understanding of quantum matter, especially one-dimensional gapped quantum systems. In critical lattice models, it is usually realized as emergent symmetries in the corresponding low-energy conformal field theories. In this work, we study critical lattice models with the noninvertible Rep($D_8$) symmetry in one dimension. This leads us to a new class of quantum critical points (QCP), noninvertible symmetry-enriched QCPs, as a generalization of known group symmetry-enriched QCPs. They are realized as phase transitions between one noninvertible symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase and another different one or spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) phase. We identify their low-energy properties and topological features through the Kennedy-Tasaki (KT) duality transformation. We argue that distinct noninvertible symmetry-enriched QCPs can not be smoothly connected without a phase transition or a multi-critical point.

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arXiv2024

Constraints on the spectrum of field theories with non-integer $O(N)$ symmetry from quantum evanescence

We identify constraints in the energy spectra of quantum theories that have a global $O(N)$ symmetry, where $N$ is treated as a continuous parameter. We point out that a class of evanescent states fall out of the spectrum at integer values of $N$ in pairs, via an annihilation mechanism. This forces the energies of the states in such a pair to approach equality as $N$ approaches a certain integer, with both states disappearing at precisely integer $N$ and the point of would-be degeneracy. These constraints occur between different irreducible representations of the analytic continuation of $O(N)$ and hold non-perturbatively. We give examples in the spectra of the critical $O(N)$ model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Symmetry TFT for Subsystem Symmetry

We generalize the idea of symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT) for subsystem symmetry. We propose the 2-foliated BF theory with level $N$ in $(3+1)$d as subsystem SymTFT for subsystem $\mathbb Z_N$ symmetry in $(2+1)$d. Focusing on $N=2$, we investigate various topological boundaries. The subsystem Kramers-Wannier and Jordan-Wigner dualities can be viewed as boundary transformations of the subsystem SymTFT and are included in a larger duality web from the subsystem $SL(2,\mathbb Z_2)$ symmetry of the bulk foliated BF theory. Finally, we construct the condensation defects and twist defects of $S$-transformation in the subsystem $SL(2,\mathbb Z_2)$, from which the fusion rule of subsystem non-invertible operators can be recovered.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Subsystem Non-Invertible Symmetry Operators and Defects

We explore non-invertible symmetries in two-dimensional lattice models with subsystem $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry. We introduce a subsystem $\mathbb Z_2$-gauging procedure, called the subsystem Kramers-Wannier transformation, which generalizes the ordinary Kramers-Wannier transformation. The corresponding duality operators and defects are constructed by gaugings on the whole or half of the Hilbert space. By gauging twice, we derive fusion rules of duality operators and defects, which enriches ordinary Ising fusion rules with subsystem features. Subsystem Kramers-Wannier duality defects are mobile in both spatial directions, unlike the defects of invertible subsystem symmetries. We finally comment on the anomaly of the subsystem Kramers-Wannier duality symmetry, and discuss its subtleties.

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arXiv2023

Universal fine grained asymptotics of free and weakly coupled Quantum Field Theory

We give a rigorous proof that in any free quantum field theory with a finite group global symmetry $\mathrm{G}$, on a compact spatial manifold, at sufficiently high energy, the density of states $ρ_α(E)$ for each irreducible representation $α$ of $\mathrm{G}$ obeys a universal formula as conjectured by Harlow and Ooguri. We further prove that this continues to hold in a weakly coupled quantum field theory, given an appropriate scaling of the coupling with temperature. This generalizes similar results that were previously obtained in $(1+1)$-D to higher spacetime dimension. We discuss the role of averaging in the density of states, and we compare and contrast with the case of continuous group $\mathrm{G}$, where we prove a universal, albeit different, behavior.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Non-linear non-renormalization theorems

We study the mixing of operators under renormalization group flow in quantum theories, and prove a non-renormalization theorem at non-linear order. It dictates zeros up to a certain number of loops in anomalous dimension tensors that control, for example, the mixing of operators at order dimension six squared into dimension eight. We obtain new results at up to three loops for the mass dimension eight anomalous dimension tensor of $ϕ^4$ theory in $D=4-2\varepsilon$ dimensions and verify the zeros predicted by the theorem.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Boson-fermion duality with subsystem symmetry

We explore an exact duality in $(2+1)$d between the fermionization of a bosonic theory with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ subsystem symmetry and a fermionic theory with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ subsystem fermion parity symmetry. A typical example is the duality between the fermionization of the plaquette Ising model and the plaquette fermion model. We first revisit the standard boson-fermion duality in $(1+1)$d with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ 0-from symmetry, presenting in a way generalizable to $(2+1)$d. We proceed to $(2+1)$d with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ subsystem symmetry and establish the exact duality on the lattice by using the generalized Jordan-Wigner map, with a careful discussion on the mapping of the twist and symmetry sectors. This motivates us to introduce the subsystem Arf invariant, which exhibits a foliation structure.

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