Standard model as the topological material

New J.Phys., 2017, 19 (1), pp.015009

G.E. Volovik1, M.A. Zubkov 2,3,4

1 Low Temperature Laboratory, School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, Finland and L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow, Russia
2 LMPT - Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Physique Théorique, Universite de Tours, 37200 Tours, France
3 LE STUDIUM, Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies, Tours and Orleans, 45000 Orleans, France
4 Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, B. Cheremushkinskaya 25, Moscow, 117259, Russia

Abstract

The study of the Weyl and Dirac topological materials (topological semimetals, insulators, superfluids and superconductors) opens the route for the investigation of the topological quantum vacua of relativistic fields. The symmetric phase of the standard model (SM), where both electroweak and chiral symmetry are not broken, represents the topological semimetal. The vacua of the SM (and its extensions) in the phases with broken electroweak symmetry represent the topological insulators of different types. We discuss in detail the topological invariants in both the symmetric and broken phases and establish their relation to the stability of vacuum.

Keywords

Symmetry breaking
Superfluid
Superconductivity
Topological Insulator
Chiral
Vacuum state
Stability
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New Journal of Physics