Consider SU(2) YMH theory without fermions. Three-space is compactified by adding the sphere at infinity and configuration space is the space of all static finite-energy 3D gauge and Higgs fields in a particular gauge.
As we are looking for finite-energy solutions to the field equations the SU(2) gauge field must tend to a pure gauge and the Higgs field to its vacuum value. This means we can map the sphere at infinity S2 into the Higgs vacuum manifold SU(2)~S3.
In order to achieve nontrivial topology we consider a loop in configuration space, which in turn induces a loop in the space of the mappings defined above. By setting appropriate constraints we can go from the Cartesian to smash product and our domain space is now:
S1∧S2∼S3
and the map
S3→S3
where the target space is the Higgs vacuum manifold three-sphere, now leads to nontrivial topology.
My questions are:
1) What is a "loop" in configuration space in physical terms?
2) Is this a constraint in our theory? If so what is this constraint?
3) Why does considering a loop in configuration space mean considering S1×S2
?
This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2017-08-02 15:44 (UTC), posted by SE-user Optimus Prime