Boundary states for chiral symmetries in two dimensions

Abstract

Abstract We study boundary states for Dirac fermions in d = 1 + 1 dimensions that preserve Abelian chiral symmetries, meaning that the left- and right-moving fermions carry different charges. We derive simple expressions, in terms of the fermion charge assignments, for the boundary central charge and for the ground state degeneracy of the system when two different boundary conditions are imposed at either end of an interval. We show that all such boundary states fall into one of two classes, related to SPT phases supported by (−1)F , which are characterised by the existence of an unpaired Majorana zero mode.