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    Symmetric mass generation in a bilayer honeycomb lattice with SU(2)×SU(2)×SU(2)/Z2 symmetry

    Cheng-Hao He1, Yi-Zhuang You2,*, and Xiao Yan Xu1,3,†

    • *Contact author: yzyou@physics.ucsd.edu
    • †Contact author: xiaoyanxu@sjtu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. B 114, 165125 – Published 16 September, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dn3v-f483

    Abstract

    A central question beyond the Landau paradigm is the nonperturbative critical theory of the symmetric mass generation (SMG) transition, where strong interactions gap Dirac fermions in 2+1 dimensions without triggering spontaneous symmetry breaking or topological order. Sign-problem-free studies have previously found fermion mass generation without bilinear condensation in related models, but the fermionic scaling properties of Hamiltonian SMG transitions remain incompletely characterized. Using sign-problem-free projector determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations of a bilayer honeycomb lattice model with SU(2)×SU(2)×SU(2)/Z2 symmetry and linear sizes up to L=21, we find evidence for a direct continuous transition: the single-particle and bosonic gaps open consistently near Jc≈2.6, with correlation-length exponent ν=1.14(2) from the better-converged fermionic analysis, while all 19 symmetry-inequivalent local fermion-bilinear multiplets remain disordered. We obtain an unbiased estimate of the fermion anomalous dimension, ηψ=0.071(1), which differs from the large-N prediction (ηψ≈0.595) and the variational Monte Carlo estimate (ηψ≈0.62), thereby constraining candidate descriptions of SMG criticality. A comparison with a related Spin(5)×U(1)/Z2 model, which develops an intermediate excitonic phase, illustrates how the symmetry content controls competing bilinear orders.

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