Symmetry-protected topological order

Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order is a kind of order in zero-temperature quantum-mechanical states of matter that have a symmetry and a finite energy gap.

To derive the results in a most-invariant way, renormalization group methods are used (leading to equivalence classes corresponding to certain fixed points). The SPT order has the following defining properties:

(a) distinct SPT states with a given symmetry cannot be smoothly deformed into each other without a phase transition, if the deformation preserves the symmetry.
(b) however, they all can be smoothly deformed into the same trivial product state without a phase transition, if the symmetry is broken during the deformation.

The above definition works for both bosonic systems and fermionic systems, which leads to the notions of bosonic SPT order and fermionic SPT order.

Using the notion of quantum entanglement, we can say that SPT states are short-range entangled states with a symmetry (by contrast: for long-range entanglement see topological order, which is not related to the famous EPR paradox). Since short-range entangled states have only trivial topological orders we may also refer the SPT order as Symmetry Protected "Trivial" order.