A Texture Bestiary

Abstract

Textures are topologically nontrivial field configurations which can exist in a field theory in which a global symmetry group $G$ is broken to a subgroup $H$, if the third homotopy group $\p3$ of $G/H$ is nontrivial. We compute this group for a variety of choices of $G$ and $H$, revealing what symmetry breaking patterns can lead to texture. We also comment on the construction of texture configurations in the different models.

34 pages, plain Tex. (Minor corrections to an old paper.)

References in corpus (4)

• COBE's Constraints on the Global Monopole and Texture Theories of Cosmic Structure Formation
• Are Textures Natural?
• Nontopological Global Field Dynamics
• The Probability for Formation of Collapsing Textures and Texture Knots

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• Topological Dark Matter in the Little Higgs Models
• The Collapse of Exotic Textures
• Cosmic Texture from a Broken Global SU(3) Symmetry
• Deep inelastic vortex scattering: A third outcome for head-on collisions