Projective spacetime symmetry of spacetime crystals

Abstract

Wigner’s seminal work on the Poincaré group revealed one of the fundamental principles of quantum theory: symmetry groups are projectively represented. The condensed-matter counterparts of the Poincaré group could be the spacetime groups of periodically driven crystals or spacetime crystals featuring spacetime periodicity. In this study, we establish the general theory of projective spacetime symmetry algebras of spacetime crystals and reveal their intrinsic connections to gauge structures. As important applications, we exhaustively classify (1,1)D projective symmetry algebras and systematically construct spacetime lattice models for them all. Additionally, we present three consequences of projective spacetime symmetry that surpass ordinary theory: the electric Floquet-Bloch theorem, Kramers-like degeneracy of spinless Floquet crystals, and symmetry-enforced crossings in the Hamiltonian spectral flows. Our work provides both theoretical and experimental foundations to explore novel physics protected by projective spacetime symmetry of spacetime crystals.