A non-semisimple non-invertible symmetry

Abstract: We investigate the action of a non-semisimple, non-invertible symmetry on spin chains, whose topological defects encode the category of modules over the Taft algebra of dimension 4. Sacrificing Hermiticity, we construct several symmetric, frustration-free, gapped Hamiltonians with real spectra and analyse their ground state subspaces. Our study reveals two intriguing phenomena. First, we identify an $\mathbb{S}^1$-parametrised family of symmetric states, all of which belong to the same gapped phase with respect to the invertible subsymmetry, yet transform inequivalently under the non-semisimple symmetry. Second, we find a model where a product state and the so-called W state spontaneously break the symmetry. We further relate the indistinguishability of these two states in the infinite-volume limit to the notion that they are associated with a simple object and its projective cover, respectively, in a non-semisimple module category.