Creation and evolution of magnetic helicity

Journal Article · Mon May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.61.105015· OSTI ID:20216449

Jackiw, R ^[1]; Pi, So-Young ^[2]

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1. Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307 (United States)
2. Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)

Projecting a non-Abelian SU(2) vacuum gauge field--a pure gauge constructed from the group element U--onto a fixed (electromagnetic) direction in isospace gives rise to a nontrivial magnetic field, with nonvanishing magnetic helicity, which coincides with the winding number of U. Although the helicity is not conserved under Maxwell (vacuum) evolution, it retains one-half its initial value at infinite time. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

• OSTI ID: 20216449
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 61, Issue 10; Other Information: PBD: 15 May 2000; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
HELICITY
GAUGE INVARIANCE
SU-2 GROUPS
VACUUM STATES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
THEORETICAL DATA