A Classification of (2+1)D Topological Phases with Symmetries

Understand

This thesis aims at concluding the classification results for topological phases with symmetry in 2+1 dimensions.

• The main result is that topological phases are classified by a triple of unitary braided fusion categories $\mathcal E\subset\mathcal C\subset\mathcal M$ plus the chiral central charge $c$.
• Here $\mathcal E$ is a symmetric fusion category, $\mathcal E=\mathrm{Rep}(G)$ for boson systems or $\mathcal E=\mathrm{sRep}(G^f)$ for fermion systems, consisting of the representations of the symmetry group and describing the local excitations with symmetry; $\mathcal C$ is the category of all the quasiparticle excitations in the bulk, containing $\mathcal E$ as its M\"uger center; $\mathcal M$ is a minimal modular extension of $\mathcal C$, that also includes the gauged symmetry defects.
• We also study the stacking of topological phases with symmetry and two types of anyon condensations based on such classification.