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Normalize the stated Pauli matrices asThe factor $3^{-1/2}$ changes only the overall normalization at fixed $N$. In the spin-one Cartesian basis, the associated periodic uniform matrix product state isThis is the Pauli-matrix representation of the Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki state.

The Pauli matrix multiplication lawshows that products on two neighboring sites span all of $M_2(\mathbb{C})$, so the tensor is an injective matrix product state after blocking two sites. More geometrically, its two-site image is the scalar plus antisymmetric subspace of $3\otimes 3$, namely the total-spin $J=0$ and $J=1$ sectors. By the Two-site support of the Pauli-matrix Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki tensor, the missing subspace is the five-dimensional symmetric traceless $J=2$ sector.

Let $P_{n,n+1}^{(2)}$ be the orthogonal projection onto that $J=2$ sector. The parent Hamiltonian of a matrix product state isEach term annihilates $|{\Psi }_N⟩$, so this is a frustration-free quantum Hamiltonian and the MPS is a ground state. Writing $x={\mathbf{S}}_n\cdot {\mathbf{S}}_{n+1}$ and using the eigenvalues $-2,-1,1$ in the three total-spin sectors gives the explicit projectorThis is the Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki parent Hamiltonian. Injectivity implies that its periodic ground state is unique for every sufficiently long chain.

The Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki state places two virtual spin-one-half degrees of freedom at every site, puts neighboring virtual spins into singlets, and projects the two virtual spins at each site onto their symmetric spin-one triplet. Its local tensor is equivalently proportional to ${\sigma }_x,{\sigma }_y,{\sigma }_z$ in the spin-one Cartesian basis, and its Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki parent Hamiltonian is

The one-dimensional cluster state is the simultaneous $+1$ eigenstate of the commuting stabilizersOn a periodic chain it is obtained by applying a controlled-$Z$ gate on every neighboring pair of the product state $|+{⟩}^{\otimes N}$.

After suitable blocking, the two states have the same nontrivial projective virtual symmetry of a matrix product state for the protecting group ${\mathbb{Z}}_2\times {\mathbb{Z}}_2$. The two virtual symmetry generators can be represented by anticommuting Pauli matrices, so they realize the nontrivial projective class in group cohomology. Consequently the AKLT and cluster states can be connected by a symmetry-preserving gapped path, or equivalently by a symmetry-preserving finite-depth local circuit: this is the Symmetry-protected equivalence of the Affleck--Kennedy--Lieb--Tasaki state and cluster state.

Both states therefore exhibit one-dimensional symmetry-protected topological order. On an open chain their nontrivial virtual representation produces protected edge degrees of freedom and a characteristic degeneracy in the entanglement spectrum of a matrix product state. They do not have intrinsic topological order: if the protecting symmetry is discarded, either state can be connected to a product state by a finite-depth local circuit.