My research focuses on the unconventional emergent phenomena, especially topological phenomena, in strongly interacting quantum many-body systems. Many of the projects I have worked on take models and tools from quantum information theory (like error correction codes and tensor network representation) to study strongly correlated condensed matter systems, usually with interesting field theory implications. For example, we used group cohomology and locally entangled states to systematically construct Symmetry Protected Topological models whose edge states embody ‘t Hooft anomaly. In the study of Fracton models, we analyzed the renormalization group transformation of quantum codes found in the study of the self-correcting quantum memory, and identified the origin of the UV-IR mixing in such models. In an on-going project, we use quantum circuits to study the generation and fusion of defects in quantum systems, revealing the higher-category structure of such defects and hence their corresponding generalized symmetries.
