Anomalous matrix product operator symmetries and 1D mixed-state phases (2504.16985v2)

Abstract: The renormalization group for matrix product density operators (MPDOs) provides a powerful framework for describing one-dimensional mixed-state phases of matter and the renormalization fixed points (RFPs) are representative states for analyzing nontrivial phases. Recently, it was found that anomalous symmetries can provide a fundamental obstruction for certain short-range correlated mixed states to be efficiently prepared. In this work, we consider generalized symmetries including non-invertible ones realized microscopically as matrix product operators (MPOs), and study the physical implications of their quantum anomaly on the MPDO RFPs. We prove that MPDOs with strong anomalous MPO symmetries cannot be prepared from a normal matrix product state in the trivial phase via a translationally invariant finite-depth local quantum channel. We explicitly construct a general class of zero-correlation-length MPDO RFPs that exhibit strong anomalous MPO symmetries, and these MPDO RFPs form a distinct class from those that can be efficiently prepared as a consequence of quantum anomaly. Nonetheless, we further prove that all the constructed MPDO RFPs can be prepared from product states by finite-depth quantum circuit with measurements and feedforward.