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arXiv · 1601.03382

Duality of a compact topological superconductor model and the Witten effect

Flavio S. Nogueira·Zohar Nussinov·Jeroen van den Brink
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Abstract

We consider a compact abelian Higgs model in 3+1 dimensions with a topological axion term and construct its dual theories for both bulk and boundary at strong coupling. The model may be viewed as describing a superconductor with magnetic monopoles, which can also be interpreted as a field theory of a topological Mott insulator. We show that this model is dual to a non-compact topological field theory of particles and vortices. It has exactly the same form of a model for superconducting cosmic strings with an axion term. We consider the duality of the boundary field theory at strong coupling and show that in this case $\theta$ is quantized as $-8\pi n/m$ where $n$ and $m$ are the quantum numbers associated to electric and magnetic charges. These topological states lack a non-interacting equivalent.

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Flavio S. Nogueira, Zohar Nussinov, Jeroen van den Brink. 2016-01-13. Duality of a compact topological superconductor model and the Witten effect. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.94.085003

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