2010/10/05 by Andrew Randono, Taylor L. Hughes · 2 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Charge (physics) #Classical mechanics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Curvature #Geometry #Gravitation #Magnetic monopole #Mathematics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Theoretical physics #Torsion (gastropod) #cond-mat.other #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.161102
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.106:161102,2011 · 4+epsilon, 1 figure
arxiv created 2010/10/05 · openalex publication_date 2011/04/22 · arxiv updated 2012/06/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Torsional degrees of freedom play an important role in modern gravity theories as well as in condensed matter systems where they can be modeled by defects in solids. Here we isolate a class of torsion models that support torsion configurations with a localized, conserved charge that adopts integer values. The charge is topological in nature, and the torsional configurations can be thought of as torsional "monopole" solutions. We explore some of the properties of these configurations in gravity models with a nonvanishing curvature and discuss the possible existence of such monopoles in condensed matter systems. To conclude, we show how the monopoles can be thought of as a natural generalization of the Cartan spiral staircase.