On the cobordism classification of symmetry protected topological phases (Q2415350)

Symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases are mass gapped phases in \(d\)-dimensional spacetimes with global symmetry group \(H_d\), assumed to be relativistic in the paper. In the low energy (long distance) limit they are described by invertible field theories, i.e. those whose Hilbert space on any closed manifold is one-dimensional. Classification of SPT phases reduces to classifying such theories up to continuous deformation, and they are characterized by their partition functions. Only ``topological'' theories are studied in the paper, those invariant under continuous deformation of background fields. This excludes some common theories that describe quantum Hall effects and their generalizations. The paper works within the framework of Atiyah's TQFT axioms, with locality and unitarity playing the most prominent roles. The main result is that relativistic unitary invertible field theories are classified by cobordism invariants. More precisely, the partition functions are invariant under bordisms and belong to \(\Hom(\Omega_d^H,U(1))\) up to tuning in the Euler density term, where \(\Omega_d^H\) is the bordism group of \(d\)-dimensional manifolds with \(H_d\) structure. Conversely, for every element of \(\Hom(\Omega_d^H,U(1))\) there is an explicit construction of invertible TQFT whose partition function is that element (assuming that a certain bordism group is finitely generated), and theories with identical partition functions are isomorphic. The resulting classification is essentially the same as that of Freed-Hopkins for fully extended invertible field theories, but covers isomorphism rather than just deformation classes of theories, and applies to non-extended theories with weaker locality conditions.