Engineering topics
Gomes, Pedro
Publications and source records attributed to Gomes, Pedro.
Field Theories for type-II fractons
We derive an effective field theory for a type-II fracton starting from the Haah code on the lattice. The effective topological theory is not given exclusively in terms of an action; it must be supplemented with a condition that selects physical states. Without the constraint, the action only describes a type-I fracton. The constraint emerges from a condition that cube operators multiply to the identity, and it cannot be consistently implemented in the continuum theory at the operator level, but only in a weaker form, in terms of matrix elements of physical states. Informed by these studies and starting from the opposite end, i.e., the continuum, we discuss a Chern-Simons-like theory that does not need a constraint or projector, and yet has no mobile excitations. Whether this continuum theory admits a lattice counterpart remains unanswered.
Lattice Clifford fractons and their Chern-Simons-like theory
We use Dirac matrix representations of the Clifford algebra to build fracton models on the lattice and their effective Chern-Simons-like theory. As an example, we build lattice fractons in odd D spatial dimensions and their (D+1) spacetime dimensional effective theory. The model possesses an anti-symmetric K matrix resembling that of hierarchical quantum Hall states. The gauge charges are conserved in sub-dimensional manifolds which ensures the fractonic behavior. The construction extends to any lattice fracton model built from commuting projectors and with tensor products of spin-1/2 degrees of freedom at the sites.