String-net
In condensed matter physics, a string-net is an extended object whose collective behavior has been proposed as a physical explanation for topological order by Michael Levin and Xiao-Gang Wen. A particular string-net model may involve only closed loops; or networks of oriented, labeled strings obeying branching rules given by some gauge group; or still more general networks. For strings labeled by the positive integers, string-nets are the spin networks studied in loop quantum gravity.
Herbertsmithite may be the only known example of String-net matter.[1] [2]
References
- Levin, Michael A. and Xiao-Gang Wen (2005). "String-net condensation: A physical mechanism for topological phases". Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 71 (045110): 21. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.71.045110.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|day=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) This has led the the proposal by Wen and Levin, [3], and Smolin, Markopolou and Tomasz, [4] that loop quantum gravity's spin networks can give rise to the standard model of particle physics through this mechanism, along with fermi statistics and gauge interactions.
- ^ www.EurekAlert.org - Have researchers found a new state of matter?
- ^ www.newscientist.com - The universe is a string-net liquid
- ^ Title: Photons and electrons as emergent phenomena Michael Levin, Xiao-Gang Wen http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0407140 page 8
- ^ http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0611197
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