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Title: Topological orders of monopoles and hedgehogs: From electronic and magnetic spin-orbit coupling to quarks

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
ORCiD logo [1]
  1. George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States); Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)

Topological states of matter are, generally, quantum liquids of conserved topological defects. We establish this by constructing and analyzing topological field theories which introduce gauge fields to describe the dynamics of singularities in the original field configurations. In this work, homotopy groups are utilized to identify topologically protected singularities, and the conservation of their protected number is captured by a topological action term that unambiguously obtains from the given set of symmetries. Stable phases of these theories include quantum liquids with emergent massless Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields, as well as topological orders with long-range quantum entanglement, fractional excitations, boundary modes, and unconventional responses to external perturbations. This paper focuses on the derivation of topological field theories and basic phenomenological characterization of topological orders associated with homotopy groups πn(Sn), n ≥ 1 . These homotopies govern monopole and hedgehog topological defects in d = n + 1 dimensions, and enable the generalization of both weakly interacting and fractional quantum Hall liquids of vortices to d > 2 . Hedgehogs have not been in the spotlight so far, but they are particularly important defects of magnetic moments because they can be stimulated in realistic systems with spin-orbit coupling, such as chiral magnets and d = 3 topological materials. We predict topological orders in systems with U(1) × Spin(d) symmetry in which fractional electric charge attaches to hedgehogs. Monopoles, the analogous defects of charge or generic U(1) currents, may bind to hedgehogs via Zeeman effect, or effectively emerge in purely magnetic systems. The latter can lead to spin liquids with different topological orders than that of the resonant valence bond spin liquid. Charge fractionalization of quarks in atomic nuclei is also seen as possibly arising from the charge-hedgehog attachment.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Institute for Quantum Matter (IQM); Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019331; PHY-1607611
OSTI ID:
1767746
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1607797
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 101, Issue 11; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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