Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond

A spin-1/2 system on a honeycomb lattice is studied. The interactions between nearest neighbors are of XX, YY or ZZ type, depending on the direction of the link; different types of interactions may differ in strength. The model is solved exactly by a reduction to free fermions in a static Z(2) gauge field. A phase diagram in the parameter space is obtained. One of the phases has an energy gap and carries excitations that are Abelian anyons. The other phase is gapless, but acquires a gap in the presence of magnetic field. In the latter case excitations are non-Abelian anyons whose braiding rules coincide with those of conformal blocks for the Ising model. We also consider a general theory of free fermions with a gapped spectrum, which is characterized by a spectral Chern number nu. The Abelian and non-Abelian phases of the original model correspond to nu = 0 and nu = L respectively. The anyonic properties of excitation depend on nu mod 16, whereas nu itself governs edge thermal transport. The paper also provides mathematical background on anyons as well as an elementary theory of Chern number for quasidiagonal matrices. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.