Symplectic symmetry of quadratic-band-touching Hamiltonians in two dimensions

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Main Authors: Herbut, Igor F., Ling, Samson C. H.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Herbut, Igor F.
Ling, Samson C. H.
author_facet Herbut, Igor F.
Ling, Samson C. H.
contents The internal low-energy symmetry of the massless Lorentz-invariant Dirac Hamiltonian in $2+1$ dimensions is known to be $O(2N)$, where $N$ is the number of two-component Dirac fermions. Here we point out that there exists an analogous internal symmetry of the single-particle quadratic-band-touching Hamiltonian in two spatial dimensions, and it is the unitary symplectic group, $USp(2N)$. All fermionic bilinears belong to one of the three small irreducible representations of this group. The interacting theory that respects the $USp(2N)$ symmetry and the spatial rotations is constructed and found to allow two independent interaction terms. When these interactions are infrared-relevant the symplectic symmetry either remains preserved or becomes spontaneously broken to $USp(N) \times USp(N)$. The symmetry in the lattices such as honeycomb to infinite order in the dispersion's expansion in powers of local momentum is given by the overlap of the symplectic and the orthogonal groups. We show that this overlap is $O(2N) \bigcap USp(2N) = U(N)$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21524
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Symplectic symmetry of quadratic-band-touching Hamiltonians in two dimensions
Herbut, Igor F.
Ling, Samson C. H.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
The internal low-energy symmetry of the massless Lorentz-invariant Dirac Hamiltonian in $2+1$ dimensions is known to be $O(2N)$, where $N$ is the number of two-component Dirac fermions. Here we point out that there exists an analogous internal symmetry of the single-particle quadratic-band-touching Hamiltonian in two spatial dimensions, and it is the unitary symplectic group, $USp(2N)$. All fermionic bilinears belong to one of the three small irreducible representations of this group. The interacting theory that respects the $USp(2N)$ symmetry and the spatial rotations is constructed and found to allow two independent interaction terms. When these interactions are infrared-relevant the symplectic symmetry either remains preserved or becomes spontaneously broken to $USp(N) \times USp(N)$. The symmetry in the lattices such as honeycomb to infinite order in the dispersion's expansion in powers of local momentum is given by the overlap of the symplectic and the orthogonal groups. We show that this overlap is $O(2N) \bigcap USp(2N) = U(N)$.
title Symplectic symmetry of quadratic-band-touching Hamiltonians in two dimensions
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21524