Classifying phases protected by matrix product operator symmetries using matrix product states

Abstract

We classify the different ways in which matrix product states (MPS) can transform under the action of matrix product operator (MPO) symmetries. We give a local characterization of MPS tensors that generate ground spaces which remain invariant under a global MPO symmetry and generally correspond to symmetry breaking phases. This allows us to derive a set of quantities, satisfying the so-called coupled pentagon equations, invariant under continuous deformations of the MPS tensor, which provides the invariants to detect different gapped phases protected by MPO symmetries. The results obtained match with previous TQFT approaches classifying non-onsite symmetries, our techniques, however, extend the classification beyond renormalization fixed points and facilitates the numerical study of these systems. When the MPO symmetries form a global onsite representation of a group, we recover the symmetry protected topological order classification for unique and degenerate ground states. When the MPO symmetries form a representation of a group, but this representation is not onsite, we obtain restrictions on the possible ground state degeneracies depending both on the group and on the concrete form of the MPO representation. Moreover, we study the interplay between time reversal symmetry and an MPO symmetry and also provide examples of our classification together with explicit constructions of MPO and MPS. Finally, we elaborate on the connection between our setup and gapped boundaries of two-dimensional topological systems, where non-onsite symmetries also play a key role.