Topological Order and Symmetry Anomaly on the Surface of Topological Crystalline Insulators

Abstract: We present microscopic Hamiltonians that gap the Dirac fermions on the surface of topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) protected by reflection symmetry and create symmetry-preserving states with Abelian topological orders. For TCIs with $n = 2$ copies of surface Dirac fermions, we find a fermionic $\mathbb{Z}_4$ topological order with charge-spin self duality and with a novel symmetry action on the anyons, whereby reflections with respect to two parallel planes act differently. We also analyze TCIs with $n = 1$ and $4$ copies of Dirac fermions, which taken together covers every nontrivial case in the $\mathbb{Z}_8 \oplus \mathbb{Z}_2$ classification of interacting TCIs. Our work reveals a fundamental difference between reflection and charge-conjugation-time-reversal symmetry anomalies.