Topological Goldstone phases of matter
Dominic V. Else
Abstract
The author gives a general theory of the circumstances, in which Goldstone modes associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking can be ``topologically nontrivial'' in the sense, for example, that topological defects, such as skyrmions, carry nontrivial quantum numbers. The core physical idea is that such defects can always be mapped to nontrivial configurations of a background gauge field for the residual symmetry, such as fluxes and monopoles.
Topics & Concepts
Symmetry protected topological orderPhysicsTopological orderTopological defectTopological entropy in physicsTopology (electrical circuits)Symmetry (geometry)Spontaneous symmetry breakingGlobal symmetryDiscrete symmetrySymmetry breakingTheoretical physicsTopological quantum numberQuantumQuantum mechanicsHomogeneous spaceMathematicsGeometryCombinatoricsTopological Materials and PhenomenaAdvanced Condensed Matter PhysicsAtomic and Subatomic Physics Research