Twisted Alice Loops as Monopoles

Katherine Benson; Tom Imbo

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arXiv · hep-th/0304162

Twisted Alice Loops as Monopoles

Katherine Benson·Tom Imbo

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Abstract

Symmetry breaking can produce ``Alice'' strings, which alter scattered charges and carry monopole number and charge when twisted into loops. We apply recent topological results, fixing Alice strings' stability and prescribing their twisting into loops with monopole charge, to several models. We show that Alice strings of condensed matter systems (nematic liquid crystals, He-3A, and related systems of non-chiral Bose condensates and amorphous chiral superconductors) are topologically Alice, and carry fundamental monopole charge when twisted into loops. They might thus be observed indirectly, not as strings, but as loop-like point defects. Other models yield Alice loops that carry only deposited, and not fundamental, charge.

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Katherine Benson, Tom Imbo. 2003-12-05. Twisted Alice Loops as Monopoles. https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0304162

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