Topological defect | EPFL Graph Search

Topological defects or solitons are irregularities or disruptions that occur within continuous fields or ordered states of matter. These defects, which can take various forms such as points, lines, or surfaces, are characterized by their stability and the fact that they cannot be 'smoothed out' or removed through continuous transformations of the field or material. They play a significant role in various areas of physics, including condensed matter physics, cosmology, and quantum field theory, and can have profound effects on the properties and behavior of the systems in which they occur. One of the simplest and most commonplace examples of a topological soliton occurs in old-fashioned coiled telephone handset cords, which are usually coiled clockwise. Years of picking up the handset can end up coiling parts of the cord in the opposite counterclockwise direction, and when this happens there will be a distinctive larger loop that separates the two directions of coiling. This odd lookin

Topological defects and gravity in theories with extra dimensions

Ewald Rössl

Recent proposals of large and infinite extra dimensions triggered a strong research activity in theories in which our universe is considered as a sub-manifold of some higher-dimensional space-time, a so-called 3-brane. In this context, it is generally assumed that some mechanism is at work which binds Standard Model particles to the 3-brane, an effect often referred to as the localization of matter on the brane. Gravity, however, is allowed to propagate in general also in the extra dimensions. As demonstrated by Randall and Sundrum in 1999, it is also possible to localize gravity itself on a 3-brane. In the setup they proposed. the 3-brane is realized as a singular domain wall separating two patches of 3-dimensional anti-de-Sitter (AdS5) space-time. The potential between two test masses on the brane at distances larger than the AdS5-radius was shown to be the usual 4-dimensional Newtonian 1/r potential with strongly suppressed corrections. The model of Randall and Sundrum, usually referred to as the Randall-Sundrum II setup, constitutes the center of interest for this thesis. The main goal of this work is to find possible generalizations to higher dimensions of the simple setup considered by Randall and Sundrum. One of the motivations for such a generalization is that a realistic theory should possibly be able to explain the chiral nature of 4-dimensional fermions on the brane. One way to explain chiral fermions from higher dimensions is to consider 3-braves identified with the cores of topological defects located in a higher-dimensional transverse space. Naturally a richer topological structure of the field configuration in transverse space provides the possibility of a more realistic spectrum of chiral fermions localized on the 3-brane. After two introductory chapters on extra dimensions and non-factorizable geometries which are relevant for the Randall-Sundrum II model, we briefly discuss basics of topological defects in the following third chapter. In the rest of the third chapter we consider various solutions to higher-dimensional Einstein equations coupled to a series of physically different sources and discuss their properties of localization of gravity. Due to their asymptotic nature, these solutions are only valid far from the cores of the defects in transverse space. Therefore, it seems reasonable to complement the consideration by presenting a particular numerical example of a solution to the Einstein equations coupled to a set of scalar and gauge fields: this solution describes a 3-brave realized as a 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole residing in the 3-dimensional transverse space of a 7-dimensional space-time. The last chapter of this work is dedicated to the study of a modification of the original Randall-Sundrum II model of another kind. The motivation is given by the geodesic incompleteness of the latter scenario with respect to time-like and light-like geodesics. We will describe a model which resembles the Randall-Sundrurn II model with respect to its properties of gravity localization but with the advantage that the underlying space-time manifold is geodesically complete. Parts of the calculations related to the properties of gravity at low energies in this model are rather technical in nature and we therefore preferred to assemble them in several appendices. We finally add some concluding remarks and discuss possible further developments.

EPFL2004

Deformation of the moving magnetic skyrmion lattice in MnSi under electric current flow

Zhuo Quan Im, Henrik Moodysson Rønnow, Jonathan White, Ivica Zivkovic

Topological defects are found ubiquitously in various kinds of matter, such as vortices in type-II superconductors, and magnetic skyrmions in chiral ferromagnets. While knowledge on the static behavior of magnetic skyrmions is accumulating steadily, their dynamics under forced flow is still a widely open issue. Here, we report the deformation of the moving magnetic skyrmion lattice in MnSi under electric current flow observed using small-angle neutron scattering. A spatially inhomogeneous rotation of the skyrmion lattice, with an inverse rotation sense for opposite sample edges, is observed for current densities greater than a threshold value j(t) similar to 1 MA m(-2) (10(6) A m(-2)). Our result show that skyrmion lattices under current flow experience significant friction near the sample edges due to pinning, this being a critical effect that must be considered for anticipated skyrmion-based applications at the nanoscale.

Springer2019

Topological defects and gravity in theories with extra dimensions

Ewald Rössl

EPFL2004