Symmetry-Enforced Fermi Surfaces

arXiv:2512.04150 · cond-mat.str-el, cond-mat.mes-hall, hep-lat, hep-th · Submitted 2025-12-03 · Read on arXiv

cond-mat.str-el, cond-mat.mes-hall, hep-lat, hep-th

Submitted: 2025-12-03

Updated: 2026-09-17

Comments: 7 pages plus appendices, 1 figure

Journal ref: Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 176502 (2026)

DOI: 10.1103/wpdt-4t1c

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We identify a symmetry that enforces every symmetric model to have a Fermi surface.

Terminology

Abstract

We identify a symmetry that enforces every symmetric model to have a Fermi surface. These symmetry-enforced Fermi surfaces are realizations of a powerful form of symmetry-enforced gaplessness. The symmetry we construct exists in quantum lattice fermion models on a d-dimensional Bravais lattice, and is generated by the on-site U(1) fermion number symmetry and non-on-site Majorana translation symmetry. The resulting symmetry group is a noncompact Lie group closely related to the Onsager algebra. For a symmetry-enforced Fermi surface, we show that this UV symmetry group always includes the subgroup of the ersatz Fermi liquid L U(1) symmetry group formed by even functions f(k) in U(1) with k in. Furthermore, we comment on the topology of these symmetry-enforced Fermi surfaces, proving they generically exhibit at least two noncontractible components (i.e., open orbits).

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