Chiral Haldane phases of SU(N) quantum spin chains in the adjoint representation

Abstract

Gapped quantum spin chains with symmetry PSU(N)=SU(N)/Z(N) are known to possess N distinct symmetry protected topological phases. Besides the trivial phase, there are N-1 Haldane phases which are distinguished by the occurrence of massless boundary spins. Motivated by the potential realization in alkaline-earth atomic Fermi gases, we explicitly construct previously unknown Hamiltonians for two classes of chiral AKLT states and we discuss their physical properties. We also point out a deep connection between symmetry protection in gapped and gapless 1D quantum spin systems and its implications for a potential multicritical nature of topological phase transitions.