Meng Cheng
| Meng Cheng | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 程蒙 |
| Born | |
| 🎓 Alma mater |
|
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for |
|
| 🏅 Awards |
|
| 🌐 Website | meng-cheng |
Meng Cheng (Chinese: 程蒙) is a Chinese-American theoretical physicist and Associate Professor of Physics at Yale University. His research focuses on the classification and characterization of topologically ordered quantum phases of matter, with particular contributions to the theory of symmetry-enriched topological order, fracton phases, and quantum criticality.
Education and early career
Cheng received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Nanjing University in 2008. He completed his PhD in condensed matter theory at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2013, under the supervision of Sankar Das Sarma.[1] His doctoral research focused on topological superconductivity and its applications in quantum information processing, particularly on Majorana qubits in non-Abelian topological superconductors.
Following his PhD, Cheng was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research Station Q in Santa Barbara, California from 2013 to 2016, where he investigated the interplay between global symmetry and topological quantum order.[2]
Career
Cheng joined the Department of Physics at Yale University as an Assistant Professor in 2017.[3] He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025.[4]
In 2025, Cheng was appointed as a Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study for the 2025–2026 academic year.[5]
Research
Cheng's research centers on understanding exotic quantum phases of matter through the interplay of symmetry and topology. His work spans several areas of theoretical condensed matter physics:
Symmetry-enriched topological order
Cheng worked on symmetry-enriched topological order, which concerns how global symmetries interact with the emergent topological properties of quantum phases. In collaboration with Maissam Barkeshli, Parsa Bonderson, and Zhenghan Wang, he developed a theoretical framework for characterizing symmetry fractionalization, extrinsic defects, and gauging in (2+1)-dimensional topological phases. This work introduced the formalism of G-crossed braided tensor categories to systematically classify symmetry-enriched topological phases and compute properties of symmetry defects.[6]
He also studied the constraints imposed by translation symmetry on symmetry-enriched topological phases, connecting the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem and its generalizations to the bulk-boundary correspondence for translation symmetry-protected topological phases.[7]
Topological superconductivity
Cheng's early work addressed topological superconductivity and Majorana-based quantum computation. His doctoral research established theoretical frameworks for understanding Majorana qubits in non-Abelian topological superconductors, including studies of their stability and decoherence properties.[1] He proved that a large class of two-dimensional spinless fermion models with certain symmetries generically exhibit topological superconducting phases.[8]
Fracton phases and quantum criticality
Cheng's more recent research includes work on fracton phases—exotic quantum phases characterized by excitations with restricted mobility—and quantum criticality, including the study of extended observables and defects at quantum critical points. He has also developed a topological holographic framework for understanding (1+1)-dimensional quantum phases, including quantum critical points between symmetry-protected topological phases.[9]
Mixed-state quantum phases
Cheng has contributed to extending the classification of topological quantum phases from pure ground states to mixed states and disordered ensembles, including the identification of intrinsically disordered average-symmetry-protected topological phases and the study of mixed-state quantum anomalies.[10]
Awards and honors
- Sloan Research Fellowship (2019)[11]
- NSF CAREER Award (2019)[12]
Selected publications
- Barkeshli, Maissam; Bonderson, Parsa; Cheng, Meng; Wang, Zhenghan (2019). "Symmetry fractionalization, defects, and gauging of topological phases". Physical Review B. 100 (11). arXiv:1410.4540. Bibcode:2019PhRvB.100k5147B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.115147. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - Cheng, Meng; Zaletel, Michael; Barkeshli, Maissam; Vishwanath, Ashvin; Bonderson, Parsa (2016). "Translational symmetry and microscopic constraints on symmetry-enriched topological phases: a view from the surface". Physical Review X. 6 (4). arXiv:1511.02263. Bibcode:2016PhRvX...6d1068C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041068. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - Cheng, Meng (2018). "Microscopic theory of surface topological order for topological crystalline superconductors". Physical Review Letters. 120 (3). arXiv:1707.02079. Bibcode:2018PhRvL.120c6801C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.036801. PMID 29400513. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - Williamson, Dominic J.; Dua, Arpit; Cheng, Meng (2019). "Spurious topological entanglement entropy from subsystem symmetries". Physical Review Letters. 122 (14). arXiv:1808.05221. Bibcode:2019PhRvL.122n0506W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.140506. PMID 31050448. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - Cheng, Meng; Williamson, Dominic J. (2022). "Relative anomaly in (1+1)d rational conformal field theory". Physical Review Letters. 128 (4): 231601. arXiv:2002.02984. doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043044. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cheng, Meng (2013). Majorana Qubits in Non-Abelian Topological Superconductors (PhD). University of Maryland, College Park.
- ↑ "Meng Cheng". Yale University Department of Physics. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
- ↑ "Four faculty hires!". Yale University Department of Physics. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
- ↑ Cheng, Meng. "Curriculum Vitae". Retrieved 2026-02-22.
- ↑ "Meng Cheng". Institute for Advanced Study. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
- ↑ Barkeshli, Maissam; Bonderson, Parsa; Cheng, Meng; Wang, Zhenghan (2019). "Symmetry fractionalization, defects, and gauging of topological phases". Physical Review B. 100 (11). arXiv:1410.4540. Bibcode:2019PhRvB.100k5147B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.115147. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Cheng, Meng; Zaletel, Michael; Barkeshli, Maissam; Vishwanath, Ashvin; Bonderson, Parsa (2016). "Translational symmetry and microscopic constraints on symmetry-enriched topological phases: a view from the surface". Physical Review X. 6 (4). arXiv:1511.02263. Bibcode:2016PhRvX...6d1068C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041068. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Cheng, Meng; Sun, Kai; Galitski, Victor; Das Sarma, S. (2010). "Stable topological superconductivity in a family of two-dimensional fermion models". Physical Review B. 81 (2). arXiv:0908.2805. Bibcode:2010PhRvB..81b4504C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.81.024504. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Huang, Sheng-Jie; Cheng, Meng (2025). "Topological holography, quantum criticality, and boundary states". SciPost Physics. 18 (6). arXiv:2310.16878. Bibcode:2025ScPP...18..213H. doi:10.21468/SciPostPhys.18.6.213. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Lessa, Leonardo A.; Cheng, Meng; Wang, Chong (2025). "Mixed-State Quantum Anomaly and Multipartite Entanglement". Physical Review X. 15 (1). arXiv:2401.17357. Bibcode:2025PhRvX..15a1069L. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011069. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ "Yale faculty members awarded prestigious 2019 Sloan Research Fellowships". Yale News. 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
- ↑ "Meng Cheng (Assistant Professor of Physics) has been awarded an NSF Career Award". Yale University Department of Physics. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
External links
This article "Meng Cheng (physicist)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Meng Cheng (physicist). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
