Higher-order topological phases protected by noninvertible and subsystem symmetries

Abstract

Higher-order topological phases with invertible symmetries have been extensively studied in recent years, revealing gapless modes localized on boundaries of higher codimension. In this work, we extend the framework of higher-order symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases to include noninvertible symmetries. We construct a concrete model of a second-order SPT phase in $2+1$ dimensions that hosts symmetry-protected corner modes protected by a noninvertible symmetry. This construction is then generalized to a $d^{th}$-order SPT phase in $d+1$ dimensions, featuring similarly protected corner modes. Additionally, we demonstrate a second-order SPT phase in $3+1$ dimensions exhibiting hinge modes protected by a noninvertible symmetry.