Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Theory
Scientific paper
1999-11-16
Phys.Rev. D61 (2000) 085012
Physics
High Energy Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
15 pages, revtex, 6 .eps figures
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevD.61.085012
It has been remarked in several previous works that the combination of center vortices and nexuses (a nexus is a monopole-like soliton whose world line mediates certain allowed changes of field strengths on vortex surfaces) carry topological charge quantized in units of 1/N for gauge group SU(N). These fractional charges arise from the interpretation of the standard topological charge integral as a sum of (integral) intersection numbers weighted by certain (fractional) traces. We show that without nexuses the sum of intersection numbers gives vanishing topological charge (since vortex surfaces are closed and compact). With nexuses living as world lines on vortices, the contributions to the total intersection number are weighted by different trace factors, and yield a picture of the total topological charge as a linking of a closed nexus world line with a vortex surface; this linking gives rise to a non-vanishing but integral topological charge. This reflects the standard 2\pi periodicity of the theta angle. We argue that the Witten-Veneziano relation, naively violating 2\pi periodicity, scales properly with N at large N without requiring 2\pi N periodicity. This reflects the underlying composition of localized fractional topological charge, which are in general widely separated. Some simple models are given of this behavior. Nexuses lead to non-standard vortex surfaces for all SU(N) and to surfaces which are not manifolds for N>2. We generalize previously-introduced nexuses to all SU(N) in terms of a set of fundamental nexuses, which can be distorted into a configuration resembling the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole with no strings. The existence of localized but widely-separated fractional topological charges, adding to integers only on long distance scales, has implications for chiral symmetry breakdown.
No associations
LandOfFree
Center Vortices, Nexuses, and Fractional Topological Charge does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Center Vortices, Nexuses, and Fractional Topological Charge, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Center Vortices, Nexuses, and Fractional Topological Charge will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-239118