The inevitability of sphalerons in field theory

The topological structure of field theory often makes inevitable the existence of stable and unstable localized solutions of the field equations. These are minima and saddle points of the energy. Saddle point solutions occurring this way are known as sphalerons, and the most interesting one is in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 377; no. 2161; p. 20180327
Main Author Manton, N S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England The Royal Society Publishing 30.12.2019
Subjects
Review
saddle point
sphaleron
electroweak theory
topology
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Summary:The topological structure of field theory often makes inevitable the existence of stable and unstable localized solutions of the field equations. These are minima and saddle points of the energy. Saddle point solutions occurring this way are known as sphalerons, and the most interesting one is in the electroweak theory of coupled , and Higgs bosons. The topological ideas underpinning sphalerons are reviewed here. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Topological avatars of new physics'.
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One contribution of 14 to a discussion meeting issue ‘Topological avatars of new physics’.
ISSN:1364-503X
1471-2962
DOI:10.1098/rsta.2018.0327