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Topological Charge
In physics, a topological quantum number (also called topological charge) is any quantity, in a physical theory, that takes on only one of a discrete set of values, due to topology, topological considerations. Most commonly, topological quantum numbers are topological invariants associated with topological defects or soliton-type solutions of some set of differential equations modeling a physical system, as the solitons themselves owe their stability to topological considerations. The specific "topological considerations" are usually due to the appearance of the fundamental group or a higher-dimensional homotopy group in the description of the problem, quite often because the boundary, on which the boundary conditions are specified, has a non-trivial homotopy group that is preserved by the differential equations. The topological quantum number of a solution is sometimes called the winding number of the solution, or, more precisely, it is the degree of a continuous mapping. The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." It is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of physics. (...) You will come to see physics as a towering achievement of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
't Hooft–Polyakov Monopole
__NOTOC__ In theoretical physics, the t Hooft–Polyakov monopole is a topological soliton similar to the Dirac monopole but without the Dirac string. It arises in the case of a Yang–Mills theory with a gauge group G, coupled to a Higgs field which spontaneously breaks it down to a smaller group H via the Higgs mechanism. It was first found independently by Gerard 't Hooft and Alexander Polyakov. Unlike the Dirac monopole, the 't Hooft–Polyakov monopole is a smooth solution with a finite total energy. The solution is localized around r=0. Very far from the origin, the gauge group G is broken to H, and the 't Hooft–Polyakov monopole reduces to the Dirac monopole. However, at the origin itself, the G gauge symmetry is unbroken and the solution is non-singular also near the origin. The Higgs field H_i (i=1,2,3), is proportional to x_i f(, x, ), where the adjoint indices are identified with the three-dimensional spatial indices. The gauge field at infinity is such that th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wess–Zumino–Witten Model
In theoretical physics and mathematics, a Wess–Zumino–Witten (WZW) model, also called a Wess–Zumino–Novikov–Witten model, is a type of two-dimensional conformal field theory named after Julius Wess, Bruno Zumino, Sergei Novikov and Edward Witten. A WZW model is associated to a Lie group (or supergroup), and its symmetry algebra is the affine Lie algebra built from the corresponding Lie algebra (or Lie superalgebra). By extension, the name WZW model is sometimes used for any conformal field theory whose symmetry algebra is an affine Lie algebra. Action Definition For \Sigma a Riemann surface, G a Lie group, and k a (generally complex) number, let us define the G-WZW model on \Sigma at the level k. The model is a nonlinear sigma model whose action is a functional of a field \gamma:\Sigma \to G: :S_k(\gamma)= -\frac \int_ d^2x\, \mathcal \left (\gamma^ \partial^\mu \gamma, \gamma^ \partial_\mu \gamma \right ) + 2\pi k S^(\gamma). Here, \Sigma is equipped with a fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compactification (mathematics)
In mathematics, in general topology, compactification is the process or result of making a topological space into a compact space. A compact space is a space in which every open cover of the space contains a finite subcover. The methods of compactification are various, but each is a way of controlling points from "going off to infinity" by in some way adding "points at infinity" or preventing such an "escape". An example Consider the real line with its ordinary topology. This space is not compact; in a sense, points can go off to infinity to the left or to the right. It is possible to turn the real line into a compact space by adding a single "point at infinity" which we will denote by ∞. The resulting compactification is homeomorphism, homeomorphic to a circle in the plane (which, as a closed and bounded subset of the Euclidean plane, is compact). Every sequence that ran off to infinity in the real line will then converge to ∞ in this compactification. The direction in whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3-sphere
In mathematics, a hypersphere or 3-sphere is a 4-dimensional analogue of a sphere, and is the 3-dimensional n-sphere, ''n''-sphere. In 4-dimensional Euclidean space, it is the set of points equidistant from a fixed central point. The interior of a 3-sphere is a 4-ball. It is called a 3-sphere because topologically, the surface itself is 3-dimensional, even though it is curved into the 4th dimension. For example, when traveling on a 3-sphere, you can go north and south, east and west, or along a 3rd set of cardinal directions. This means that a 3-sphere is an example of a 3-manifold. Definition In coordinates, a 3-sphere with center and radius is the set of all points in real, Four-dimensional space, 4-dimensional space () such that :\sum_^3(x_i - C_i)^2 = ( x_0 - C_0 )^2 + ( x_1 - C_1 )^2 + ( x_2 - C_2 )^2+ ( x_3 - C_3 )^2 = r^2. The 3-sphere centered at the origin with radius 1 is called the unit 3-sphere and is usually denoted : :S^3 = \left\. It is often convenient to r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SU(2)
In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree , denoted , is the Lie group of unitary matrices with determinant 1. The matrices of the more general unitary group may have complex determinants with absolute value 1, rather than real 1 in the special case. The group operation is matrix multiplication. The special unitary group is a normal subgroup of the unitary group , consisting of all unitary matrices. As a compact classical group, is the group that preserves the standard inner product on \mathbb^n. It is itself a subgroup of the general linear group, \operatorname(n) \subset \operatorname(n) \subset \operatorname(n, \mathbb ). The groups find wide application in the Standard Model of particle physics, especially in the electroweak interaction and in quantum chromodynamics. The simplest case, , is the trivial group, having only a single element. The group is isomorphic to the group of quaternions of norm 1, and is thus diffeomorphic to the 3-sphere. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isospin
In nuclear physics and particle physics, isospin (''I'') is a quantum number related to the up- and down quark content of the particle. Isospin is also known as isobaric spin or isotopic spin. Isospin symmetry is a subset of the flavour symmetry seen more broadly in the interactions of baryons and mesons. The name of the concept contains the term ''spin'' because its quantum mechanical description is mathematically similar to that of angular momentum (in particular, in the way it couples; for example, a proton–neutron pair can be coupled either in a state of total isospin 1 or in one of 0). But unlike angular momentum, it is a dimensionless quantity and is not actually any type of spin. Before the concept of quarks was introduced, particles that are affected equally by the strong force but had different charges (e.g. protons and neutrons) were considered different states of the same particle, but having isospin values related to the number of charge states. A close exami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baryon Number
In particle physics, the baryon number (B) is an additive quantum number of a system. It is defined as B = \frac(n_\text - n_), where is the number of quarks, and is the number of antiquarks. Baryons (three quarks) have B = +1, mesons (one quark, one antiquark) have B = 0, and antibaryons (three antiquarks) have B = −1. Exotic hadrons like pentaquarks (four quarks, one antiquark) and tetraquarks (two quarks, two antiquarks) are also classified as baryons and mesons depending on their baryon number. In the standard model B conservation is an accidental symmetry which means that it appears in the standard model but is often violated when going beyond it. Physics beyond the Standard Model theories that contain baryon number violation are, for example, Standard Model with extra dimensions, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theory and String theory. Baryon number vs. quark number Quarks carry not only electric charge, but also charges such as color charge and weak iso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skyrmion
In particle theory, the skyrmion () is a topologically stable field configuration of a certain class of non-linear sigma models. It was originally proposed as a model of the nucleon by (and named after) Tony Skyrme in 1961. As a topological soliton in the pion field theory (physics), field, it has the remarkable property of being able to model, with reasonable accuracy, multiple low-energy properties of the nucleon, simply by fixing the nucleon radius. It has since found application in solid-state physics, as well as having ties to certain areas of string theory. Skyrmions as topological objects are important in solid-state physics, especially in the emerging technology of spintronics. A two-dimensional magnetic skyrmion, as a topological object, is formed, e.g., from a 3D effective-spin "hedgehog" (in the field of micromagnetics: out of a so-called "Bloch sphere, Bloch point" singularity of homotopy degree +1) by a stereographic projection, whereby the positive north-pole spin is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Particle Physics
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the study of combinations of protons and neutrons is called nuclear physics. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and bosons (force-carrying particles). There are three Generation (particle physics), generations of fermions, although ordinary matter is made only from the first fermion generation. The first generation consists of Up quark, up and down quarks which form protons and neutrons, and electrons and electron neutrinos. The three fundamental interactions known to be mediated by bosons are electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction. Quark, Quarks cannot exist on their own but form hadrons. Hadrons that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topological Insulator
A topological insulator is a material whose interior behaves as an electrical insulator while its surface behaves as an electrical conductor, meaning that electrons can only move along the surface of the material. A topological insulator is an insulator for the same reason a " trivial" (ordinary) insulator is: there exists an energy gap between the valence and conduction bands of the material. But in a topological insulator, these bands are, in an informal sense, "twisted", relative to a trivial insulator. The topological insulator cannot be continuously transformed into a trivial one without untwisting the bands, which closes the band gap and creates a conducting state. Thus, due to the continuity of the underlying field, the border of a topological insulator with a trivial insulator (including vacuum, which is topologically trivial) is forced to support conducting edge states. Since this results from a global property of the topological insulator's band structure, local (s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hall Effect
The Hall effect is the production of a voltage, potential difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor that is wikt:transverse, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field wikt:perpendicular, perpendicular to the current. It was discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879. The ''Hall coefficient'' is defined as the ratio of the induced electric field to the product of the current density and the applied magnetic field. It is a characteristic of the material from which the conductor is made, since its value depends on the type, number, and properties of the charge carriers that constitute the current. Discovery Wires carrying current in a magnetic field experience a mechanical force perpendicular to both the current and magnetic field. In the 1820s, André-Marie Ampère observed this underlying mechanism that led to the discovery of the Hall effect. However it was not until a solid mathematical basis for electromagnetism was system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
