I have seen many times the BF theory has non-trivial ground state degeneracy (typically on torus), but I can not see how the conclusion come out. Recently I found a paper by Hansson, Oganesyan and Sondhi,[Superconductors are topologically ordered] in which the superconductor is described by a Maxwell−BF theory. They have a section of the GCD in a BF theory in 2+1 d. But actually I still have questions to understand it.
The BF theory in 2+1 d is given by the action
S=1π∫d3xϵμνσbμ∂νaσ,(1)
where
aμ and
bμ are
U(1) gauge fields.
μ,ν,σ=0,x,y.
Working on 2−torous, as in the section [IV.A] in Hansson's paper, the BF theory can be written in the form
S=1π∫d3x[ϵij˙aibj+a0ϵij∂ibj+b0ϵij∂iaj],
where
˙a=∂0a and
i,j=x,y. They interpret
a0 and
b0 are multipliers for constraints
ϵij∂ibj=0 and
ϵij∂iaj=0.
Upon inserting
ai=∂iΛa+ˉai/L
and
bi=∂iΛb+ˉbi/L,
where
Λa/b are periodic functions on the torus,
¯ai and
¯bi are spatially constant,
L denotes the size of the system, the above
BF theory reduces to
S=1π∫d3xϵij˙ˉaiˉbj.(2)
Then they say from the Eq.(2) one can obtain the commutation relation ( [Eq. (38)] in their paper)
[ˉax,1πˉby]=i,[ˉay,−1πˉbx]=i.(3)
Moreover, from the commutation relations Eq. (3), one can have ( [Eq. (39)] in their paper)
AxBy+ByAx=0,AyBx+BxAy=0,(4)
where
Ai=eiˉai and
Bi=eiˉbi.
They claim that relations Eq. (4) indicates a
2×2=4−fold GCD and "
Bi can be interpreted either as measuring the
b-flux or inserting an
a−flux."
There are several points that I don't understand.
1. How can I get communication relations Eq. (3) from the action Eq. (2)?
2. Why relations Eq. (4) indicate a 4−fold GCD?
3. How should I understand the statement "Bi can be interpreted either as measuring the b-flux or inserting an a−flux."?
I would be very appreciate if anyone can give me some hints or suggest me some relevant references.