We introduce the concept of boundary degeneracy of topologically ordered states on a compact orientable spatial manifold with boundaries, and emphasize that the boundary degeneracy provides richer information than the bulk degeneracy. Beyond the bulk-edge correspondence, we find the ground state degeneracy of the fully gapped edge modes depends on boundary gapping conditions. By associating different types of boundary gapping conditions as different ways of particle or quasiparticle condensations on the boundary, we develop an analytic theory of gapped boundaries. By Chern-Simons theory, this allows us to derive the ground state degeneracy formula in terms of boundary gapping conditions, which encodes more than the fusion algebra of fractionalized quasiparticles. We apply our theory to Kitaev's toric code and Levin-Wen string-net models. We predict that the Z2 toric code and Z2 double-semion model (more generally, the Zk gauge theory and the U(1)k×U(1)−k non-chiral fractional quantum Hall state at even integer k) can be numerically and experimentally distinguished, by measuring their boundary degeneracy on an annulus or a cylinder.

The boundary of symmetry-protected topological states (SPTs) can harbor new quantum anomaly phenomena. In this work, we characterize the bosonic anomalies introduced by the 1+1D non-onsite-symmetric gapless edge modes of 2+1D bulk bosonic SPTs with a generic finite Abelian group symmetry (isomorphic to G=∏iZNi=ZN1×ZN2×ZN3×...). We demonstrate that some classes of SPTs (termed "Type II") trap fractional quantum numbers (such as fractional ZN charges) at the 0D kink of the symmetry-breaking domain walls; while some classes of SPTs (termed "Type III") have degenerate zero energy modes (carrying the projective representation protected by the unbroken part of the symmetry), either near the 0D kink of a symmetry-breaking domain wall, or on a symmetry-preserving 1D system dimensionally reduced from a thin 2D tube with a monodromy defect 1D line embedded. More generally, the energy spectrum and conformal dimensions of gapless edge modes under an external gauge flux insertion (or twisted by a branch cut, i.e., a monodromy defect line) through the 1D ring can distinguish many SPT classes. We provide a manifest correspondence from the physical phenomena, the induced fractional quantum number and the zero energy mode degeneracy, to the mathematical concept of cocycles that appears in the group cohomology classification of SPTs, thus achieving a concrete physical materialization of the cocycles. The aforementioned edge properties are formulated in terms of a long wavelength continuum field theory involving scalar chiral bosons, as well as in terms of Matrix Product Operators and discrete quantum lattice models. Our lattice approach yields a regularization with anomalous non-onsite symmetry for the field theory description. We also formulate some bosonic anomalies in terms of the Goldstone-Wilczek formula.

It is known as a purely quantum effect that a magnetic flux affects the real physics of a particle, such as the energy spectrum, even if the flux does not interfere with the particle's path - the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Here we examine an Aharonov-Bohm effect on a many-body wavefunction. Specifically, we study this many-body effect on the gapless edge states of a bulk gapped phase protected by a global symmetry (such as ZN) - the symmetry-protected topological (SPT) states. The many-body analogue of spectral shifts, the twisted wavefunction and the twisted boundary realization are identified in this SPT state. An explicit lattice construction of SPT edge states is derived, and a challenge of gauging its non-onsite symmetry is overcome. Agreement is found in the twisted spectrum between a numerical lattice calculation and a conformal field theory prediction.

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Distinct quantum vacua of topologically ordered states can be tunneled into each other via extended operators. The possible applications include condensed matter and quantum cosmology. We present a straightforward approach to calculate the partition function on various manifolds and ground state degeneracy (GSD), mainly based on continuum/cochain topological quantum field theories (TQFTs), in any dimension. This information can be related to the counting of extended operators of bosonic/fermionic TQFTs. On the lattice scale, anyonic particles/strings live at the ends of line/surface operators. Certain systems in different dimensions are related to each other through dimensional reduction schemes, analogous to (de)categorification. Examples include spin TQFTs derived from gauging the interacting fermionic symmetry-protected topological states (with fermion parity \mathbb{Z}_2^f) of symmetry groups \mathbb{Z}_2^f and \mathbb{Z}_2^f in