Phase transitions in topological lattice models via topological symmetry breaking

Abstract: We study transitions between phases of matter with topological order. By studying these transitions in exactly solvable lattice models we show how universality classes may be identified and critical properties described. As a familiar example to elucidate our results concretely, we describe in detail a transition between a fully gapped achiral 2D $p$-wave superconductor ($p+ip$ for pseudospin up/$p-ip$ for pseudospin down) to an $s$-wave superconductor which we show to be in the 2D transverse field Ising universality class.