Constructing networks of defects with scalar fields

We propose a new way to build networks of defects. The idea takes advantage of the deformation procedure recently employed to describe defect structures, which we use to construct networks, spread from small rudimentary networks that appear in simple models of scalar fields.     

Multikink solutions and deformed defects

In this work we consider an application of the deformation procedure that enables us to construct, systematically, scalar field models supporting multikinks. We introduce a new deformation function in order to realize this task. We exemplify the procedure with three different starting models already known in the literature, and the resulting deformed models have rich minima structures which are responsible for the appearance of multikink configurations. We have also considered an application to braneworld scenarios, where we have obtained interesting configurations corresponding to the multikink solutions.     

Metastable ringlike semitopological solitons

We show the existence of new stable ringlike localized scalar field configurations whose stability is due to a combination of topological and nontopological charges. In that sense these defects may be called semitopological. These rings are Noether charged and also carry Noether current (they are superconducting). They are local minima of the energy in scalar field theories with an unbroken U(1) global symmetry. We obtain numerical solutions of the field configuration corresponding to large rings and derive virial theorems demonstrating their stability. We also derive the minimum energy field configurations in 3D and simulate the evolution of a finite size Q ring on a three dimensional lattice.     

Notes on generalized global symmetries in QFT

It was recently argued that quantum field theories possess one‐form and higher‐form symmetries, labelled ‘generalized global symmetries.’ In this paper, we describe how those higher‐form symmetries can be understood mathematically as special cases of more general 2‐groups and higher groups, and discuss examples of quantum field theories admitting actions of more general higher groups than merely one‐form and higher‐form symmetries. We discuss analogues of topological defects for some of these higher symmetry groups, relating some of them to ordinary topological defects. We also discuss topological defects in cases in which the moduli ‘space’ (technically, a stack) admits an action of a higher symmetry group. Finally, we outline a proposal for how certain anomalies might potentially be understood as describing a transmutation of an ordinary group symmetry of the classical theory into a 2‐group or higher group symmetry of the quantum theory, which we link to WZW models and bosonization.     

Rashba自旋轨道耦合下square-octagon晶格的拓扑相变

本文研究了各向同性square-octagon晶格在内禀自旋轨道耦合、Rashba自旋轨道耦合和交换场作用下的拓扑相变,同时引入陈数和自旋陈数对系统进行拓扑分类.系统在自旋轨道耦合和交换场的影响下会出现许多拓扑非平庸态,包括时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔态和量子反常霍尔态.特别的是,在时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔效应中,无能隙螺旋边缘态依然能够完好存在.调节交换场或者填充因子的大小会导致系统发生从时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔态到自旋过滤的量子反常霍尔态的拓扑相变.边缘态能谱和自旋谱的性质与陈数和自旋陈数的拓扑刻画完全一致.这些研究成果为自旋量子操控提供了一个有趣的途径.     

Orbifolds and Topological Defects

We study orbifolds of two-dimensional topological field theories using defects. If the TFT arises as the twist of a superconformal field theory, we recover results on the Neveu–Schwarz and Ramond sectors of the orbifold theory, as well as bulk-boundary correlators from a novel, universal perspective. This entails a structure somewhat weaker than ordinary TFT, which however still describes a sector of the underlying conformal theory. The case of B-twisted Landau–Ginzburg models is discussed in detail, where we compute charge vectors and superpotential terms for B-type branes. Our construction also works in the absence of supersymmetry and for generalised “orbifolds” that need not arise from symmetry groups. In general, this involves a natural appearance of Hochschild (co)homology in a 2-categorical setting, in which among other things we provide simple presentations of Serre functors and a further generalisation of the Cardy condition.     

On the efficiency of data representation on the modeling and characterization of complex networks

Specific choices about how to represent complex networks can have a substantial impact on the execution time required for the respective construction and analysis of those structures. In this work we report a comparison of the effects of representing complex networks statically by adjacency matrices or dynamically by adjacency lists. Three theoretical models of complex networks are considered: two types of Erd?s-Rényi as well as the Barabási-Albert model. We investigated the effect of the different representations with respect to the construction and measurement of several topological properties (i.e. degree, clustering coefficient, shortest path length, and betweenness centrality). We found that different forms of representation generally have a substantial effect on the execution time, with the sparse representation frequently resulting in remarkably superior performance.     

Monopoles and topological field theory

We present a topological quantum field theory for magnetic monopoles in an SU(N) Yang-Mills-Higgs model. This field theory is obtained by gauge fixing the topological action defining the monopole charge. This work extends to the three-dimensional case the quantization of invariant polynomials in four dimensions. We choose the Bogomolny self-duality equations as gauge conditions for the magnetic monopole topological field theory. In this way the geometrical equation discussed e.g. in Atiyah and Hitchin's work are recovered as ghost equations of motion. We give the cocycles of the corresponding topological symmetry. In the N→∞ limit interesting phenomena occur. The functional integration is forced to cover only the moduli space and the role of the ghosts stemming from the gauge fixing process is to provide a smooth semiclassical approximation.     

Topological matter in four dimensions

Topological models involving matter couplings to Donaldson-Witten theory are presented. The construction is carried out using both the topological algebra and its central extension, which arise from the twisting of N = 2 supersymmetry in four dimensions. The framework on which the construction is based is constituted by the superspace associated to these algebras. The models show new features of topological quantum field theories which could provide either a mechanism for topological symmetry breaking, or the analog of two-dimensional mirror symmetry in four dimensions.     

A symmetry principle for topological quantum order

We present a unifying framework to study physical systems which exhibit topological quantum order (TQO). The major guiding principle behind our approach is that of symmetries and entanglement. These symmetries may be actual symmetries of the Hamiltonian characterizing the system, or emergent symmetries. To this end, we introduce the concept of low-dimensional Gauge-like symmetries (GLSs), and the physical conservation laws (including topological terms, fractionalization, and the absence of quasi-particle excitations) which emerge from them. We prove then sufficient conditions for TQO at both zero and finite temperatures. The physical engine for TQO are topological defects associated with the restoration of GLSs. These defects propagate freely through the system and enforce TQO. Our results are strongest for gapped systems with continuous GLSs. At zero temperature, selection rules associated with the GLSs enable us to systematically construct general states with TQO; these selection rules do not rely on the existence of a finite gap between the ground states to all other excited states. Indices associated with these symmetries correspond to different topological sectors. All currently known examples of TQO display GLSs. Other systems exhibiting such symmetries include Hamiltonians depicting orbital-dependent spin-exchange and Jahn-Teller effects in transition metal orbital compounds, short-range frustrated Klein spin models, and p+ip superconducting arrays. The symmetry based framework discussed herein allows us to go beyond standard topological field theories and systematically engineer new physical models with finite temperature TQO (both Abelian and non-Abelian). Furthermore, we analyze the insufficiency of entanglement entropy (we introduce SU(N) Klein models on small world networks to make the argument even sharper), spectral structures, maximal string correlators, and fractionalization in establishing TQO. We show that Kitaev’s Toric code model and Wen’s plaquette model are equivalent and reduce, by a duality mapping, to an Ising chain, demonstrating that despite the spectral gap in these systems the toric operator expectation values may vanish once thermal fluctuations are present. This illustrates the fact that the quantum states themselves in a particular (operator language) representation encode TQO and that the duality mappings, being non-local in the original representation, disentangle the order. We present a general algorithm for the construction of long-range string and brane orders in general systems with entangled ground states; this algorithm relies on general ground states selection rules and becomes of the broadest applicability in gapped systems in arbitrary dimensions. We exactly recast some known non-local string correlators in terms of local correlation functions. We discuss relations to problems in graph theory.     

Relative topological integrals and relative Cheeger–Simons differential characters

Topological integrals appear frequently in Lagrangian field theories. On manifolds without boundary, they can be treated in the framework of (absolute) (co)homology using the formalism of Cheeger–Simons differential characters. String and D-brane theory involve field theoretic models on worldvolumes with boundary. On manifolds with boundary, the proper treatment of topological integrals requires a generalization of the usual differential topological set up and leads naturally to relative (co)homology and relative Cheeger–Simons differential characters. In this paper, we present a construction of relative Cheeger–Simons differential characters which is computable in principle and which contains the ordinary Cheeger–Simons differential characters as a particular case.     

On dynamics of fermion generations

The hierarchy of fermion masses and electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking without elementary Higgs is studied on the basis of strong gauge-field distributions governing the EW dynamics. The mechanism of symmetry breaking due to quark bilinear condensation is generalized to the case, when higher field correlators are present in the EW vacuum. Resulting wave functional yields several minima of quark bilinears, giving masses of three (or more) generations. Mixing is suggested to be due to kink solutions of the same wave functional. For a special form of this mixing (“coherent mixing”) a realistic hierarhy of masses and CKM coefficients is obtained and arguments in favor of the fourth generation are given. Possible important role of topological charges for CP-violating phases and small masses of the first generation is stressed.     

Quasi-Nambu-Goldstone modes in Bose-Einstein condensates

We show that quasi-Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes, which play prominent roles in high energy physics but have been elusive experimentally, can be realized with atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. The quasi-NG modes emerge when the symmetry of a ground state is larger than that of the Hamiltonian. When they appear, the conventional vacuum manifold should be enlarged. Consequently, topological defects that are stable within the conventional vacuum manifold become unstable and decay by emitting the quasi-NG modes. Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, we show that the topological defects are stabilized by quantum fluctuations that make the quasi-NG modes massive, thereby suppressing their emission.     

Fine structure of the diffraction image of an edge dislocation in high-resolution section topography

The propagation of an x-ray wave field in an elastic field of an edge dislocation crossing a scattering triangle exactly along the bisector of the scattering angle has been considered. The scattering of the x-ray wave field by a complex elastic field of the edge dislocation has been analyzed using the methods of geometrical optics. It has been established that the fine structure of a diffraction image of defects in thick crystals is determined by the differences in scattering of the normal and anomalous modes of the x-ray wave field in the vicinity of the Bragg reflection. In the case of thick crystals, the x-ray diffraction image of defects can have a symmetry different from the symmetry of the function of local misorientations of the crystal lattice. X-ray wave scattering by local distortions of the crystal lattice can occur according to two different mechanisms depending on the gradient of space changes in the deformation field. In the crystal regions where the elastic field varies slowly with a change in the distance, the x-ray wave field has had time to adjust itself to follow the course of deviations of the crystal lattice from the exact Bragg condition. In the crystal region where the elastic field changes significantly at distances of the order of the extinction length, this region leaves the reflecting position and interference scattering occurs at the interface of the region. It is important that the form of the deformation field in this case is of no significance.     

Multi-sine-Gordon models

This work deals with the presence of defect structures in generalized sine-Gordon models. The models are described by periodic potentials, with substructure having one, two, three, or more distinct topological sectors, with multiplicity one, two, three or more, respectively. The investigation takes advantage of the deformation procedure introduced in previous work, which is used to introduce the new models, and to study all the defect structures they may comprise.     

Identifying Two-Dimensional <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators

We revisit the question of whether a two-dimensional topological insulator may arise in a commensurate Néel antiferromagnet, where staggered magnetization breaks the symmetry with respect to both elementary translation and time reversal, but retains their product as a symmetry. In contrast to the so-called Z₂ topological insulators, an exhaustive characterization of antiferromagnetic topological phases with the help of topological invariants has been missing. We analyze a simple model of an antiferromagnetic topological insulator and chart its phase diagram, using a recently proposed criterion for centrosymmetric systems [13]. We then adapt two methods, originally designed for paramagnetic systems, and make antiferromagnetic topological phases manifest. The proposed methods apply far beyond the particular examples treated in this work, and admit straightforward generalization. We illustrate this by two examples of non-centrosymmetric systems, where no simple criteria have been known to identify topological phases. We also present, for some cases, an explicit construction of edge states in an antiferromagnetic topological insulator.     

Kinklike structures in scalar field theories: From one-field to two-field models

In this Letter we study the possibility of constructing two-field models from one-field models. The idea is to start with a given one-field model and use the deformation procedure to generate another one-field model, and then couple the two one-field models nontrivially, to get to a two-field model, together with some explicit topological solutions. We show with several distinct examples that the procedure works nicely and can be used generically.     

Crossover between weak antilocalization and weak localization in a magnetically doped topological insulator

We report transport studies on magnetically doped Bi(2)Se(3) topological insulator ultrathin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The magnetotransport behavior exhibits a systematic crossover between weak antilocalization and weak localization with the change of magnetic impurity concentration, temperature, and magnetic field. We show that the localization property is closely related to the magnetization of the sample, and the complex crossover is due to the transformation of Bi(2)Se(3) from a topological insulator to a topologically trivial dilute magnetic semiconductor driven by magnetic impurities. This work demonstrates an effective way to manipulate the quantum transport properties of the topological insulators by breaking time-reversal symmetry.