Open AccessCosmic strings, deformed lattices and spontaneous symmetry breaking
Author(s) -
Antonino Flachi,
Vincenzo Vitagliano
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1275/1/012030
Subject(s) - cosmic string , curvature , physics , spontaneous symmetry breaking , symmetry (geometry) , homogeneous space , symmetry breaking , topological defect , theoretical physics , action (physics) , topology (electrical circuits) , boundary (topology) , chiral symmetry breaking , explicit symmetry breaking , geometry , quantum mechanics , string (physics) , mathematics , mathematical analysis , combinatorics
External conditions have a dramatic impact on the way dynamical symmetry breaking occurs. In a curved background, the natural expectation is that curvature works toward the restoration of the internal symmetry. We show instead that, for topological defects, the competing action of the locally induced curvature and boundary conditions generated by the non-trivial topology allows configurations where symmetries can be spontaneously broken close to the core. Inspired by the effect of geometrical deformations on 2D lattices, we then propose a novel mechanism to induce a superconducting phase by triggering condensation along cosmic strings.