Charge Violation and Alice Behavior in Global and Textured Strings
High Energy Physics - Theory
2009-11-07 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
Spontaneous breaking of global symmetries can produce ``Alice'' strings: line defects which make unbroken symmetries multivalued, induce apparent charge violation via Aharonov-Bohm interactions, and form point defects when twisted into loops. We demonstrate this behavior for both divergent and textured global Alice strings. Both adiabatically scatter charged particles via effective Wilson lines. For textured Alice strings, such Wilson lines occur at all radii, and are multivalued only inside the string. This produces measurable effects, including path-dependent charge violation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.hep-th/0103238,
title = {Charge Violation and Alice Behavior in Global and Textured Strings},
author = {Katherine M. Benson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0103238},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
32 pages, 2 epsfigs, Revtex