Topology, and (in)stability of non-Abelian monopoles
Peng-Ming Zhang, Peter A. Horvathy, John Rawnsley
备注：
58 pages, 20 figures. Based on a Review Lecture delivered by PAH at the meeting "Nonlinear phenomena: a view from mathematics and physics", organized by the National Taiwan University and the Taida Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Taipei, Jan. 2011. Revised version: some details clarified and minor errors corrected
The stability problem of non-Abelian monopoles with respect to "Brandt-Neri-Coleman type" variations reduces to that of a pure gauge theory on the two-sphere. Each topological sector admits exactly one stable monopole charge, and each unstable monopole admits $2\sum (2|q|-1)$ negative modes, where the sum goes over the negative eigenvalues $q$ of an operator related to the non-Abelian charge $Q$ of Goddard, Nuyts and Olive. An explicit construction for the [up-to-conjugation] unique stable charge, as well as the negative modes of the Hessian at any other charge is given. The relation to loops in the residual group is explained. From the global point of view, the instability is associated with energy-reducing two-spheres, which, consistently with the Morse theory, generate the homology of the configurations space, and whose tangent vectors at a critical point are negative modes. Our spheres might indicate possible decay routes of an unstable monopole as a cascade into lower lying critical points.
We construct effective actions for non-Abelian 1/4 Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) monopole-vortex complexes in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge groups U(N), U(1) \times SO(2n) and U(1) \times USp(2n). In the color-flavor locked vacuum with degenerate hypermultiplet masses, a subgroup of the color-flavor diagonal symmetry remains unbroken and gives internal orientational moduli to vortices which confine monopoles in the Higgs phase. In this paper we discuss the effective action which describes the interactions between monopoles and the orientational moduli of non-Abelian …
We explain a new construction of self-dual string solutions to the non-abelian two-form self-duality equation proposed in \cite{CK}. This class of self-dual strings is determined by the BPS monopoles in four-dimensions and the self dual string charge is given by the charge of the monopole. Our construction covers the SO(4) invariant self-dual string solutions found previously. We have also constructed, based on the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole, a singular solution that describes two finitely separated M5-branes meeting midway in between. We comment that as BPS monopoles are generally given by th…
We develop the Atiyah-Drinfeld-Manin-Hitchin-Nahm construction to study SU(2) non-abelian charge 3 monopoles within the algebro-geometric method. The method starts with finding an algebraic curve, the monopole spectral curve, subject to Hitchin's constraints. We take as the monopole curve the genus four curve that admits a $C_3$ symmetry, $η^3+αηζ^2+βζ^6+γζ^3-β=0$, with real parameters $α$, $β$ and $γ$. In the case $α=0$ we prove that the only suitable values of $γ/β$ are $\pm 5\sqrt{2}$ ($β$ is given below) which corresponds to the tetrahedrally symmetric solution. We then extend this result …
We study non-Abelian geometric phase in $\mathscr{N} = 2$ supersymmetric quantum mechanics for a free particle on a circle with two point-like interactions at antipodal points. We show that non-Abelian Berry's connection is that of $SU(2)$ magnetic monopole discovered by Moody, Shapere and Wilczek in the context of adiabatic decoupling limit of diatomic molecule.
In the present letter, the dynamics of a spin one-half particle with non abelian charge, interacting with a non abelian monopole like configuration, is studied. In the non spinning case, these equations correspond to the Wong ones [1], and the associated dynamics has been extensively studied in [2]-[3]. The classical limit of a spinning particle in an abelian was studied in [4], where an interpretation of the celebrated Callan-Rubakov effect [5]-[6] was obtained in purely classical terms. The present work studies an interpolating situation, in which spin and non abelian charges are turned on. …
We use the moduli matrix approach to study the moduli space of 1/4 BPS kinks supported by vortices in the Higgs phase of N = 2 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories when non-zero masses for the matter hypermultiplets are introduced. We focus on the case of degenerate masses. In these special cases vortices acquire new orientational degrees of freedom, and become "non-Abelian". Kinks acquire new degrees of freedom too, and we will refer to them as "non-Abelian". As already noticed for the Abelian case, non-Abelian kinks must correspond to non-Abelian monopoles of the unbroken phase of SU(N) Yang-M…
We discuss the Abelian and non-Abelian monopoles which could exist in condensed matters. We show how the Dirac monopole can be regularized by the charge screening, and argue that the Dirac monopole of mass of hundred meVs could exist in dielectric condensed matters. Moreover, we generalize this result to non-Abelian condensed matters to show the existence of the non-Abelian monopole configuration in two-gap condensed matters, and present explicit monopole solutions.
Fermion zero modes for abelian BPS monopoles are considered. In the spherically symmetric case the normalisable zero modes are determined for arbitrary monopole charge N. If N>1 the zero modes are zero along $N-1$ half-lines emanating from the monopole.
Recent development on non-Abeliann vortices and monopoles is reviewed with an emphasis on their relevance on confinement and duality. A very recent construction of non-Abelian vortices which do not dynamically Abelianize is crucial in this context.
We develop a method for finding the zero modes of the Dirac operator in the presence of BPS monopoles. We use it to find the zero modes in the case of Abelian BPS monopoles in $\mathbb R^3$.
The scheme of isospin separation is suggested for the equation describing the five-dimensional 'charge-dyon' system in a non-Abelian SU(2) model. As a result, we obtain the Schrodinger equation for 'bare' particle, moving in Coulomb potential plus potential of five-dimensional Dirac monopole.
We derive a new non-abelian Stokes theorem by rewriting the Wilson loop as a gauge-invariant area integral, at the price of integrating over an auxiliary field from the coset SU(N) / [U(1)]^{N-1} space. We then introduce the relativistic quark--monopole interaction as a Wess--Zumino-type action, and extend it to the non-abelian case. We show that condensation of monopoles and confinement can be investigated in terms of the behaviour of the monopole world lines. One can thus avoid hard problems of how to introduce monopole fields and dual Yang--Mills potentials.
A static configuration of point charges held together by the gravitational attraction is known to be given by the Majumdar-Papapetrou solution in the Einstein-Maxwell theory. We consider a generalization of this solution to non-Abelian monopoles of the Yang-Mills Higgs system coupled to gravity. The solution is governed by an analog of the Bogomol'nyi equations that had played a central role in the analysis of non-Abelian monopoles.
We show that the instantons induce the abelian monopoles in the Maximal Abelian Projection of $SU(2)$ gluodynamics. As an example we consider the case of one instanton and the case of a set of instantons arranged along a straight line. The abelian monopoles which are induced by instantons may play some role in the confinement scenario.
Using recently proposed non-linearly realized supersymmetry in non-Abelian gauge theory corrected to the order (alpha')^2, we derive the non-linear BPS equations in the background B-field for the U(2) monopoles and instantons. We show that these non-Abelian non-linear BPS equations coincide with the non-commutative anti-self-dual equations via the Seiberg-Witten map.
A relation between the total instanton number and the quantum-numbers of magnetic monopoles that arise in general Abelian gauges in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is established. The instanton number is expressed as the sum of the `twists' of all monopoles, where the twist is related to a generalized Hopf invariant. The origin of a stronger relation between instantons and monopoles in the Polyakov gauge is discussed.
Magnetic monopoles having non-Abelian charges have been found recently to play a crucial role in the infrared in a class of supersymmetric gauge theories. We argue that these "dual quarks" can naturally be identified with the non-Abelian magnetic monopoles of the type first discussed by Goddard, Nuyts and Olive. Our argument is based on a few simple observations as regards to their charge structure, flavor quantum numbers, and some general properties of electromagnetic duality.
It is proven that dual superconductivity of QCD vacuum in the confining phase is an intinsic property, independent on the choice of the abelian projection used to define the monopoles.
A possible mechanism accounting for monopole configurations in continuum Yang-Mills theories is discussed. The presence of the gauge fixing term is taken into account.
We extend the Georgi-Glashow model of the t'Hooft-Polyakov monopoles to include additional collective coordinates "orientational isospin moduli". The low-energy theory of these solitonic solutions can be interpreted as dyons with isospin.
We discuss some properties of abelian monopoles in the Maximal Abelian projection of the SU(2) lattice gluodynamics. We show that in the maximal abelian projection abelian monopoles carry fluctuating electric charge and that the monopole currents are correlated with the magnetic and the electric parts of the SU(2) action density.
It is shown that the creation of a monopole is a gauge invariant statement, based on topology. Creating a monopole is independent on the abelian projection in which it is created. This is fundamental in defining an order parameter for detecting dual superconductivity of the QCD vacuum.
We investigate the flux-tube joining two equal and opposite electric charges using the dual Ginzburg-Landau model of superconductivity. The model is supplemented with an additional scalar field carrying a non-Abelian global symmetry, broken in the vortex cores. The presence of orientational moduli makes the flux tube non-Abelian. We perform a detailed study of the low energy theory of this soliton. We also analyze the solution representing superconducting droplets in the presence of the monopole anti - monopole pair.
We investigate monopole solutions for the Born-Infeld Higgs system. We analyze numerically these solutions and compare them with the standard 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles. We also discuss the existence of a critical value of beta (the Born-Infeld "absolute field parameter") below which no regular solution exists.
After briefly reviewing the problems associated with non-Abelian monopoles, we turn our attention to the development in our understanding of non-Abelian {\it vortices} in the last several years. In the U(N) model with $N_{f}=N$ flavors in which they were first found, the fluctuations of the orientational modes along the vortex length and in time become strongly coupled at long distances. They effectively reduce to Abelian ANO vortices. We discuss then a very recent work on non-Abelian vortices with $CP^{n-1}\times CP^{r-1}$ orientational moduli, which, unlike the ones so far extensively studie…
We present an algorithm for simulation of $SU(2)$ lattice gauge theory under the MA gauge and first numerical results for the theory without abelian monopoles. The results support the idea that nonperturbative interaction arises between monopoles and residual abelian field and the other interactions are perturbative. It is shown that the Gribov region for the theory with the MA gauge fixed is non-connected.
A path integral description of an effective action of monopoles in Abelian projections of Yang-Mills theories is discussed and used to establish a projection independence of the effective action. A dynamic regime in which the effective dynamics may contain massive solitonic excitations is described.
Within the context of the Abelian Projection of QCD monopole-like quantum excitations of gauge fields are studied. We start with certain classical solutions, of the SU(2) Yang-Mills field equations, which are not monopole-like and whose energy density diverges as $r \to \infty$. These divergent classical solutions are then quantized using a modified version of Heisenberg's quantization technique for strongly interacting, nonlinear fields. The modified Heisenberg quantization technique leads to a system of equations with mixed quantum and classical degrees of freedom. By applying a Feynman path…
Low energy dynamics of magnetic monopoles and anti-monopoles in the U(2) gauge theory is studied in the Higgs (non-Abelian superconducting) phase. The monopoles in this superconducting phase are not spherical but are of slender ellipsoid which are pierced by a vortex string. We investigate scattering of the slender monopole and anti-monopole, and find that they do not always decay into radiation, contrary to our naive intuition. They can repel, make bound states (magnetic mesons) or resonances. Analytical solutions including any number of monopoles and anti-monopoles are obtained in the first …
We discuss the construction of non-Abelian black holes and globally regular monopole solutions to N=2, d=4 EYM theories. Special emphasis is put on how the attractor mechanism works for the non-Abelian black holes.
Central role played by certain non-Abelian monopoles (of Goddard-Nuyts-Olive-Weinberg type) in the infrared dynamics in many confining vacua of softly broken ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories, has recently been clarified. We discuss here the main lessons to be learned from these studies for the confinement nechanism in QCD.
The four dimensional Abelian Higgs model with monopoles and $Θ$-term is considered in the limit of the large mass of the higgs boson. We show that for $Θ=2 π$ the theory is equivalent, at large distances, to summation over all possible world-sheets of fermionic strings with Dirichlet type boundary conditions on string coordinates.
A non--Abelian $SU(2)$ model is constructed for a five--dimensional bound system "charge--dyon" on the basis of the Hurwitz--transformed eight--dimensional isotropic quantum oscillator. The principle of dyon--oscillator duality is formulated; the energy spectrum and wave functions of the system "charge--dyon" are calculated.
Correlation between instantons and QCD-monopoles is studied in the abelian-gauge-fixed QCD. From a simple topological consideration, instantons are expected to appear only around the QCD-monopole trajectory in the abelian-dominating system. The QCD-monopole in the multi-instanton solution is studied in the Polyakov-like gauge, where $A_4(x)$ is diagonalized. The world line of the QCD-monopole is found to be penetrate the center of each instanton. For the single-instanton solution, the QCD-monopole trajectory becomes a simple straight line. On the other hand, in the multi-instanton system, the …
A spherically symmetric monopole solution is found in SO(5) gauge theory with Higgs scalar fields in the vector representation in six-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The action of the Yang-Mills fields is quartic in field strengths. The solution saturates the Bogomolny bound and is stable.
The Georgi-Glashow model equations of motion are examined by general static spherically symmetric real and complex parametrizations of gauge fields in arbitrary gauge. Their connection with the known `t Hooft-Polyakov and Julia-Zee equations is shown without any gauge-fixing, elucidating so the gauge invariant meaning of corresponding functions. The obtained systems of equations have a new exact analytical solutions for complex non-abelian monopole and dyon fields with real finite or zero energy densities.
A version of non-Abelian monopole equations is explored through dimensional reductions, with often the addition of algebraic conditions. On zero curvature spaces, spinor related extensions of integrable systems have been generated, and certain reduced one-dimensional systems have been discussed with respect to integrability, as well as solutions found.
We study static spherically symmetric monopole solutions in non-Abelian Einstein-Born-Infeld-Higgs model with normal trace structure. These monopoles are similar to the corresponding solution with symmetrised trace structure and are existing only up to some critical value of the strength of the gravitational interaction. In addition, similar to their flat space counterpart, they also admit a critical value of the Born-Infeld parameter $\b$.
The interaction of a nontrivial topological field configuration with the external fields is considered. The approach is based on the calculation of the zero modes excitation probability. We consider the interaction of the t'Hooft-Polyakov monopole with an external weak uniform magnetic field and the field of another monopole.
The general properties of the abelian projection are reviewed. We derive the explicit expression for the abelian functional integral for U(1) abelian theory which corresponds to the abelian projection of the SU(2) gluodynamics. The numerical results for the temperature dependence of the monopole condensate are presented.
The monopole confinement mechanism in the abelian projection of lattice gluodynamics is reviewed. The main topics are: the abelian projection on the lattice and in the continuum, a numerical study of the abelian monopoles in the lattice gauge theory. Additionally, we briefly review the notation of differential forms, duality, and the BKT transformation in the lattice gauge theories.
We apply a generalized field ansatz to describe the spherically symmetric sector of classical solutions of the electroweak theory. This sector contains Abelian magnetic monopoles labeled by their magnetic charge $n=\pm 1,\pm 2,\ldots$, the non-Abelian monopole for $n=\pm 2$ found previously by Cho and Maison (CM), and also the electric oscillating solutions. All magnetic monopoles have infinite energy. We analyze their perturbative stability and use the method of complex spacetime tetrad to separate variables and reduce the perturbation equations to multi-channel Schroedinger-type eigenvalue p…
A method is proposed for generalizing the Euclidean Taub-NUT space, regarded as the appropriate background of the Dirac magnetic monopole, to non-Abelian Kaluza-Klein theories involving potentials of generalized monopoles. Usual geometrical methods combined with a recent theory of the induced representations governing the Taub-NUT isometries lead to a general conjecture where the potentials of the generalized monopoles of any dimensions can be defined in the base manifolds of suitable principal fiber bundles. Moreover, in this way one finds that apart from the monopole models which are of a sp…
Magnetic monopoles form an inspiring chapter of theoretical physics, covering a variety of surprising subjects. We review their role in non-abelian gauge theories. An expose of quite exquisite physics derived from a hypothetical particle species, because the fact remains that in spite of ever more tempting arguments from theory, monopoles have never reared their head in experiment. For many relevant particulars, references to the original literature are provided.
We construct spherically and axially symmetric monopoles in SU(5) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory both in flat and curved space as well as spherical and axial non-abelian, ''hairy'' black holes. We find that in analogy to the SU(2) case, the flat space monopoles are either non-interacting (in the BPS limit) or repelling. In curved space, however, gravity is able to overcome the repulsion for suitable choices of the Higgs coupling constants and the gravitational coupling. In addition, we confirm that indeed all qualitative features of (gravitating) SU(2) monopoles are found as well in the SU(5) case. F…
We discuss the effect of the choice of an Abelian projection on the dual superconductor mechanism of confinement in SU(2) gluodynamics. Using qualitative arguments we show that the dual superconductor Lagrangian corresponding to the Abelian Polyakov gauge has a different structure compared to the dual Lagrangian in the Maximal Abelian gauge. A difference between these Lagrangians reflects the fact that in continuum limit the monopoles should be static in the Abelian Polyakov gauge and therefore these monopoles can not give rise to the confinement of static quarks. Using the Abelian Polyakov ga…
By numerical calculations we show that the abelian monopole currents are locally correlated with the density of SU(2) lattice action. This fact is established for the maximal abelian projection. Thus, in the maximal abelian projection the monopoles are physical objects, they carry SU(2) action. Calculations on the asymmetric lattice show that the correlation between monopole currents and the density of SU(2) lattice action also exists in the deconfinement phase of gluodynamics.
Van Holten's covariant Hamiltonian framework is used to find conserved quantities for an isospin-carrying particle in a non-Abelian monopole-like field. For a Wu-Yang monopole we find the most general scalar potential such that the combined system admits a conserved Runge-Lenz vector. It generalizes the fine-tuned inverse-square plus Coulomb potential, found before by McIntosh and Cisneros, and by Zwanziger, for a charged particle in the field of a Dirac monopole. Following Fehér, the result is interpreted as describing motion in the asymptotic field of a self-dual Prasad-Sommerfield monopole.…
We describe a new order parameter for the confinement-deconfinement transition in lattice SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. It is expressed in terms of magnetic monopole field correlators represented as sums over sheets of center vortices. Our construction establishes a link between "abelian" and "center dominance". It avoids an inconsistency in the treatment of small scales present in earlier definitions of monopole fields by respecting Dirac's quantization condition for magnetic fluxes.
We discuss some of the latest results concerning the non-Abelian vortices. The first concerns the construction of non-Abelian BPS vortices based on general gauge groups of the form G= G' x U(1). In particular detailed results about the vortex moduli space have been obtained for G'=SO(N) or USp(2N). The second result is about the "fractional vortices", i.e., vortices of the minimum winding but having substructures in the tension (or flux) density in the transverse plane. Thirdly, we discuss briefly the monopole-vortex complex.
Non-Abelian BPS vortex solutions are constructed in N=2 theories with gauge groups SO(N)\times U(1). The model has N_f flavors of chiral multiplets in the vector representation of SO(N), and we consider a color-flavor locked vacuum in which the gauge symmetry is completely broken, leaving a global SO(N)_{C+F} diagonal symmetry unbroken. Individual vortices break this symmetry, acquiring continuous non-Abelian orientational moduli. By embedding this model in high-energy theories with a hierarchical symmetry breaking pattern such as SO(N+2) --> SO(N)\times U(1) --> 1, the correspondence between …
We find that Polyakov lines, computed in abelian-projected SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the confined phase, have finite expectation values for lines corresponding to two units of the abelian electric charge. This means that the abelian-projected lattice has at most Z(2), rather than U(1), global symmetry. We also find a severe breakdown of the monopole dominance approximation, as well as positivity, in this charge-2 case. These results imply that the abelian-projected lattice is not adequately represented by a monopole Coulomb gas; the data is, however, consistent with a center vortex structu…
We show that the non-Abelian magnetic monopole defined in a gauge-invariant way in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory gives a dominant contribution to confinement of the fundamental quark, in sharp contrast to the SU(2) case.
It is offered to consider monopoles in Abelian Projection as quantum excitations which are solutions of the quantized Yang-Mills equations. According to the Heisenberg quantization method these equations are equivalent an infinite set of equations for Green's functions. A procedure for cutting off these infinite series of differential equations after some assumptions is offered. The received equations are identical to equations describing a dyon.
We present a non-abelian generalization of Witten monopole equations and we analyze the associated moduli problem, which can be regarded as a generalization of Donaldson theory. The moduli space of solutions for SU(2) monopoles on Kähler manifolds is discussed. We also construct, using the Mathai-Quillen formalism, the topological quantum field theory corresponding to the new moduli problem. This theory involves the coupling of topological Yang-Mills theory to topological matter in four dimensions
We investigate the dual superconductor hypothesis in finite-temperature SU(2) lattice gluodynamics in the Spatial Maximal Abelian gauge. This gauge is more physical than the ordinary Maximal Abelian gauge due to absence of non-localities in temporal direction. We show numerically that in the Spatial Maximal Abelian gauge the probability distribution of the abelian monopole field is consistent with the dual superconductor mechanism of confinement: the abelian condensate vanishes in the deconfinement phase and is not zero in the confinement phase.
Certain nontopological magnetic monopoles, recently found by Lee and Weinberg, are reinterpreted as topological solitons of a non-Abelian gauged Higgs model. Our study makes the nature of the Lee-Weinberg monopoles more transparent, especially with regard to their singularity structure.
