Detecting a Z₂ topologically ordered phase from unbiased infinite projected entangled-pair state simulations

We present an approach to identify topological order based on unbiased infinite projected entangled-pair states simulations, i.e., where we do not impose a virtual symmetry on the tensors during the optimization of the tensor network ansatz. As an example we consider the ground state of the toric code model in a magnetic field exhibiting Z₂ topological order. The optimization is done by an efficient energy minimization approach based on a summation of tensor environments to compute the gradient. We show that the optimized tensors, when brought into the right gauge, are approximately Z₂ symmetric, and they can be fully symmetrized a posteriori to generate a stable topologically ordered state, yielding the correct topological entanglement entropy and modular S and U matrices. To compute the latter we develop a variant of the corner-transfer matrix method, which is computationally more efficient than previous approaches based on the tensor renormalization group.