Discrete quantum hair on black holes and the non-abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect

Journal article

In an abelian Higgs model where U(1) is broken to ℤp by a condensate of charge pe, the U(1) charge QV in a finite volume V is an observable, but charge is screened, so 〈QV〉 falls exponentially to zero as V → ∞. It is demonstrated that the ℤp charge, QV modulo pe, can be cast as a surface integral by evaluating exp(2πQV/pe) in states containing a shell of unbroken vacuum around the volume, and its value is unaffected by the presence of the condensate inside the shell. Thus in these states QV modulo pe is not screened. This shows that black holes can indeed have ℤp hair. The extension to a non-abelian discrete gauge charge is discussed, and the detection of this charge by its non-abelian Aharonov-Bohm interaction with cosmic strings is described.

Authors: Alford, MG; March-Russell, J; Wilczek, F

• Journal: Nuclear Physics B
• Volume: 337
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 695-708
• Publication date: 1990-01-01
• DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(90)90512-C
• ISSN: 0550-3213
• Language: English