A symmetry-respecting topologically-ordered surface phase of 3d electron topological insulators

A 3d electron topological insulator (ETI) is a phase of matter protected by particle-number conservation and time-reversal symmetry. It was previously believed that the surface of an ETI must be gapless unless one of these symmetries is broken. A well-known symmetry-preserving, gapless surface termination of an ETI supports an odd number of Dirac cones. In this paper we deduce a symmetry-respecting, gapped surface termination of an ETI, which carries an intrinsic 2d topological order, Moore-Read×U(1)−2. The Moore-Read sector supports non-Abelian charge 1/4 anyons, while the Abelian, U(1)−2, (anti-semion) sector is electrically neutral. Time-reversal symmetry is implemented in this surface phase in a highly non-trivial way. Moreover, it is impossible to realize this phase strictly in 2d, simultaneously preserving its implementation of both the particle number and time-reversal symmetries. A 1d edge on the ETI surface between the topologicallyordered phase and the topologically trivial time-reversal-broken phase with a Hall conductivity σxy = 1/2, carries a right-moving neutral Majorana mode, a right-moving bosonic charge mode and a left-moving bosonic neutral mode. The topologically-ordered phase is separated from the surface superconductor by a direct second order phase transition in the XY ∗ universality class, which is driven by the condensation of a charge 1/2 boson, when approached from the topologicallyordered side, and proliferation of a flux 4π vortex, when approached from the superconducting side. In addition, we prove that time-reversal invariant (interacting) electron insulators with no intrinsic topological order and electromagnetic response characterized by a θ-angle, θ = π, do not exist if the electrons transform as Kramers singlets under time-reversal.