Invisible magnetic fields as a support for the notion of monopole flux tube

Physicists studying a system consisting of a layered structure consisting of alternate superconducting and spin liquid layers have found evidence for what they call invisible magnetic fields. The popular article is published in Scitechdaily (see this) and tells about research carried out by Prof. Beena Kalisky and doctoral student Eylon Persky in Bar-Ilan University. The research article is published in Nature (see this).

First some basic notions.

1. The notions of spin liquid and charge-spin separation are needed. Popular texts describe charge separation in a way completely incomprehensible for both layman and professional. Somehow the electron would split into two parts corresponding to its spin and charge. The non-popular definition is clear and understandable. Instead of a single electron, one considers a spin liquid as a many-electron system associated with a lattice-like structure formed by atoms. The neighboring electrons are paired. There are a very large number of possible pairings. In the ground state the spins of electrons of all pairs could be either opposite or parallel (magnetization). Pairing with a vanishing spin is favoured by Fermi statistics.

   If the opposite spins of a single pair become parallel and this state is delocalized, one can have a propagating spin wave without moving charge. If one electron pair is removed and this hole pair is delocalized ,one obtains a moving charge +2e without any motion of spin.

2. When a superconductor of type II is in an external magnetic field with a strength above critical value, the magnetic field penetrates to the superconductor as vortices. Inside these vortices the superconductivity is broken and electrons swirl around the magnetic field. This is how the magnetic flux quanta become visible.

In the layered structures formed by atomic layers of spin liquid and superconductor, magnetic vortices are created spontaneously in the superconducting layers. In the Maxwellian world, magnetic fields would be created either by rotating currents or by magnetization requiring a lattice-like structure of parallel electron spins. In the recent case spontaneous magnetization should serve as a signature for the presence of these magnetic fields.

Surprisingly, no magnetization was observed so that one can talk of "invisible" magnetic field.

In the bilayered structure 4Hb-TaS₂, the superconductivity is anomalous in the sense that the critical temperature is 2.7 K whereas in bulk superconductor 2H-TaS₂ it is .7 K. There is also a breaking of time reversal symmetry closely related t the presence of the magnetic flux quanta. The magnetic flux quanta survive above critical temperature 2.7 K up to 3.6 K and their life time is very long as compared to the electronic time scales (12 minute scale is mentioned). Therefore one can talk of magnetic memory.

The proposal is that a spin liquid state known as a chiral spin liquid is created and that the invisible magnetic field associated with the chiral spin liquid penetrates to the superconductor as flux quanta.

Could TGD explain the invisible magnetic fields?

1. TGD predicts what I called monopole flux tubes, which have closed, rather than disk-like , 2-D cross sections and carry monopole flux requiring no current nor magnetization to generate it.

   This is possible only in the TGD space-time, which corresponds to a 4-surface in 8-D space H=M⁴× CP₂, but not in Minkowski space or in general relativistic space-time in its standard form. The reason is that the topology of the space-time surface is non-trivial in all scales.

   The possibility of closed monopole flux tubes without magnetic monopoles, is one of the basic differences between TGD and Maxwell's theory and reflects the non-trivial homology of CP₂.

2. Monopole flux tubes solve the mystery of why there are magnetic fields in cosmic length scales and why the Earth's magnetic field B_E has not disappeared long ago by dissipation (see this)).
3. Electromagnetic fields at frequencies in the EEG range corresponding to cyclotron frequencies have quantal looking effects on brains of mammalians at the level of both physiology and behavior. The photon energies involved are extremely low.

   In the TGD based quantum biology they can be understood in terms of cyclotron transitions for "dark" ions with a very large effective Planck constant h_eff= nh₀ in a magnetic field of .2 Gauss, which is about 2/5 of the nominal value .5 Gauss of the Earth's magnetic field B_D. The proposal is that B_E involves a monopole flux contribution about 2B_E/5 (see this).

   The estimate for the invisible magnetic field was .1 Gauss so that the numbers fit nicely.

The findings suggest that the spin liquid phase atomic layer involves the monopole flux tubes assignable to the Earth's magnetic field and orthogonal to the layer. They would not be present in the superconducting layer but would penetrate from spin liquid to the superconductor.

See the chapter Magnetic Sensory Canvas Hypothesis.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles related to TGD.