Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-343/4/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 343 4 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The original Ising symmetry is the global spin flipThe dual system has a one-form symmetry generated by products of edge Pauli operators along closed noncontractible loops; equivalently, closed Wilson loops label its electric and magnetic topological sectors.
The PEPO annihilates the nonsymmetric Ising sector because each virtual index is summed with the global parity constraint. On the dual side it has support only on configurations obeying all contractible zero-flux constraints and, for a fixed untwisted PEPO, one choice of noncontractible loop eigenvalues. Therefore the duality is invertible only after restricting both Hilbert spaces to corresponding symmetry sectors.
On a torus the toric code has four ground states distinguished by two independent noncontractible loop eigenvalues. A single untwisted duality operator reaches only one of them; inserting the two possible Ising twists supplies the other three. This explains why the global-symmetry Ising description and topologically degenerate toric-code description do not contradict each other.
New to topics? Read the docs here!