Topological Classification Of Defects
The effective metric and effective gauge fields are simulated in superfluids by the inhomogeneity of the superfluid vacuum. In superfluids, many inhomogeneous configurations of the vacuum are stable and thus can be experimentally investigated in detail, since they are protected by r-space topology. In particular, the effect of the chiral anomaly has been verified using such topologically stable objects as vortex-skyrmions in 3He-A and quantized vortices in 3He-B. Other topological objects can produce non-trivial effective metrics. In addition, many topological defects have almost direct analogs in some relativistic quantum field theory. Topological defects are results of spontaneously broken symmetry. This chapter discusses the spontaneous symmetry breaking both in 3He-A and 3He-B, which is responsible for topologically stable objects in these phases, and analogous ‘superfluid’ phases in high-energy physics, such as chiral and color superfluidity in quantum chromodynamics (QCD).
Keywords: superfluids, topological defects, chiral superfluidity, quantum chromodynamics, vacuum manifold, homotopy groups, symmetry breaking, superfluid helium
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