No-go theorem for boson condensation in topologically ordered quantum liquids

Abstract

Certain phase transitions between topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) are driven by the condensation of bosonic anyons. However, as bosons in a TQFT are themselves nontrivial collective excitations, there can be topological obstructions that prevent them from condensing. Here we formulate such an obstruction in the form of a no-go theorem. We use it to show that no condensation is possible in SO(3)(k) TQFTs with odd k. We further show that a ‘layered’ theory obtained by tensoring SO(3)(k) TQFT with itself any integer number of times does not admit condensation transitions either. This includes (as the case k = 3) the noncondensability of any number of layers of the Fibonacci TQFT.