Classification of Magnetic Vortices by Angular Momentum Conservation

Abstract

Superfluid vortices are quantum excitations carrying quantized amount of orbital angular momentum in a phase where global symmetry is spontaneously broken. We address a question of whether magnetic vortices in superconductors with dynamical gauge fields can carry nonzero orbital angular momentum or not. We discuss the angular momentum conservation in several distinct classes of examples from crossdisciplinary fields of physics across condensed matter, dense nuclear systems, and cosmology. The angular momentum carried by gauge field configurations around the magnetic vortex plays a crucial role in satisfying the principle of the conservation law. Based on various ways how the angular momentum conservation is realized, we provide a general scheme of classifying magnetic vortices in different phases of matter.

arXiv comment35 pages, 5 figures

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