Search results for "Topological defect"

Dissipative polarization domain walls as persisting topological defects

2018

We experimentally demonstrate the existence of dissipative polarization domain walls in a normally dispersive Kerr resonator. We excite and trap them with appropriate external signals thus realizing an all-optical buffer for topological data.

Topological defects and large-scale structure

1990

Topological Defects in Nanostructures—Chiral Domain Walls and Skyrmions

2016

In this chapter, spin structures with particular topologies in confined geometries are presented. Domain walls in nanowires exhibit a spin structure that depends on the material and geometry while in discs Skyrmions can be stabilized by different competing interactions. The topologies of these spin structures can be characterized by a Skyrmion or Winding number that governs the dynamics and stability.

Analysis method for detecting topological defect dark matter with a global magnetometer network

2019

Abstract The Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches (GNOME) is a network of time-synchronized, geographically separated, optically pumped atomic magnetometers that is being used to search for correlated transient signals heralding exotic physics. GNOME is sensitive to exotic couplings of atomic spins to certain classes of dark matter candidates, such as axions. This work presents a data analysis procedure to search for axion dark matter in the form of topological defects: specifically, walls separating domains of discrete degenerate vacua in the axion field. An axion domain wall crossing the Earth creates a distinctive signal pattern in the network that can be d…

Comments on "Neutron-proton mass difference in the chiral solitonic bag model"

1990

It is pointed out that the topological soliton bag is incompletely quantized in the papers of Durgut, Pak, and Yilmaz and of Wittman and Woloshyn, leading to results on the neutron-proton mass difference and other phenomena that are not implied by the model. The purpose of this paper is to clarify how and where their scheme goes wrong and to propose an alternative consistent scheme of quantization.

Momentum-space structure of surface states in a topological semimetal with a nexus point of Dirac lines

2016

Three-dimensional topological semimetals come in different variants, either containing Weyl points or Dirac lines. Here we describe a more complicated momentum-space topological defect where several separate Dirac lines connect with each other, forming a momentum-space equivalent of the real-space nexus considered before for helium-3. Close to the nexus the Dirac lines exhibit a transition from type I to type II lines. We consider a general model of stacked honeycomb lattices with the symmetry of Bernal (AB) stacked graphite and show that the structural mirror symmetries in such systems protect the presence of the Dirac lines, and also naturally lead to the formation of the nexus. By the bu…

Non-equilibrium temperature of well-developed quantum turbulence

2009

Abstract A non-equilibrium effective temperature of quantum vortex tangles is defined as the average energy of closed vortex loops. The resulting thermodynamic expressions for the entropy and the energy in terms of the temperature of the tangle are confirmed by a microscopic analysis based on a potential distribution function for the length of vortex loops. Furthermore, these expressions for the entropy and energy in terms of temperature are analogous to those of black holes: this may be of interest for establishing further connections between topological defects in superfluids and cosmology.

Light majoron cold dark matter from topological defects and the formation of boson stars

2019

We show that for a relatively light majoron ($\ll 100 $ eV) non-thermal production from topological defects is an efficient production mechanism. Taking the type I seesaw as benchmark scheme, we estimate the primordial majoron abundance and determine the required parameter choices where it can account for the observed cosmological dark matter. The latter is consistent with the scale of unification. Possible direct detection of light majorons with future experiments such as PTOLEMY and the formation of boson stars from the majoron dark matter are also discussed.

Semiflexible Polymers in Spherical Confinement: Bipolar Orientational Order Versus Tennis Ball States

2017

Densely packed semiflexible polymers with contour length L confined in spheres with radius R of the same order as L cannot exhibit uniform nematic order. Depending on the chain stiffness (which we vary over a wide range), highly distorted structures form with topological defects on the sphere surface. These structures are completely different from previously observed ones of very long chains winding around the inner surface of spheres and from nematic droplets. At high densities, a thin shell of polymers close to the sphere surface exhibits a tennis ball texture due to the confinement-induced gradual bending of polymer bonds. In contrast, when the contour length of the chains is significant…

Ordering, phase behavior, and correlations of semiflexible polymers in confinement.

2021

Semiflexible polymers are ubiquitous in biological systems, e.g., as building blocks of the cytoskeleton, and they also play an important role in various materials due to their ability to form liquid-crystalline order. These rigid macromolecules are characterized by numerous (hierarchical) length-scales that define their static and dynamic properties. Confinement can promote uniform order, e.g., through capillary nematization in narrow slits, but it can also introduce long-ranged disruptions of the nematic ordering field through (unavoidable) topological defects in spherical containers. This Perspective concentrates on the theoretical description and computational modeling of such confined …