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Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

Anisotropic spin system, quantized Dirac monopole and the Berry phase

P. Bandyopadhyay

Published Aug 4, 2010• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Berry phase, acquired by an anisotropic spin system with spin J ≥1 when it is adiabatically rotated in a closed circuit, is considered to be associated with a non-quantized Dirac monopole, and has a geometrical as well as a topological component owing to the Dirac string. Here, it is argued that the Berry phase of a spin state with J ≥1 can be associated with a quantized Dirac monopole when the corresponding spin is taken to be an entangled state of a composite system of 1/2 spins. Evidently, this avoids the contribution of the Dirac string, and the Berry phase is purely geometrical in nature.

DOI
10.1098/rspa.2010.0266

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The Berry phase, acquired by an anisotropic spin system with spin J ≥1 when it is adiabatically rotated in a closed circuit, is considered to be associated with a non-quantized Dirac monopole, and has a geometrical as well as a topological component owing to the Dirac string. Here, it is argued that the Berry phase of a spin state with J ≥1 can be associated with a quantized Dirac monopole when the corresponding spin is taken to be an entangled state of a composite system of 1/2 spins. Evidently, this avoids the contribution of the Dirac string, and the Berry phase is purely geometrical in nature.
The Berry phase of an anisotropic spin system that is adiabatically rotated along a closed circuit C is investigated. It is shown that the Berry phase consists of two contributions: (i) a geometric contribution which can be interpreted as the flux through C of a nonquantized Dirac monopole, and (ii) a topological contribution which can be interpreted as the flux through C of a Dirac string carrying a nonquantized flux, i.e., a spin analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Various experimental consequences of this novel effect are discussed.
Abstract This work revisit on the intrinsic connection between Dirac monopole theory and Berry geometric phases by extending Dirac's theory to the parameter space. Using the simplest two-mode Hamiltonian model, we explicitly visualize Dirac strings with endpoints in the parameter space, demonstrating that these endpoints correspond to accidental degeneracy points of energy eigenvalues in Hermitian systems. We show that non-integrable phase factors, induced by such Dirac strings, directly give rise to the well-known Berry connection and curvature, which can be re-derived by following the spirit of Dirac's monopole theory with the aid of the quantum adiabatic theorem. Our results indicate that the Berry geometric phase is essentially the non-integrable phase factor induced by Dirac strings with endpoints in the parameter space. These results further deepen our understanding on monopole and geometric phases, and would inspire more studies on them especially when Berry's framework is not applicable.
A monopole-like singularity generated by Berry's phase in momentum space and associated anomalous Poisson brackets have been discussed in various fields. In the applications, it is crucially important to understand precisely what is the monopole in momentum space implied by Berry's phase. Berry's phase is sensitive to how it is measured and thus very different from the genuine Dirac monopole; the monopole-like singularity in Berry's phase is a result of adiabatic approximation while the singularity disappears in non-adiabatic approximation. The resolution of monopole-like singularity in the non-adiabatic domain implies that no Dirac string appears close to the monopole position and the anomalous terms containing the monopole flux in quantum mechanical commutation relations are absent. The absence of modified commutators is also concluded if one understands Berry's phase in momentum space as an O(ℏ)O(\hbar)O(ℏ) quantum mechanical effect with a quantized magnetic charge eM=2πℏe_{M}=2\pi\hbareM​=2πℏ.
The smooth topology change of Berry's phase from a Dirac monopolelike configuration to a dipole configuration, when one approaches the monopole position in the parameter space, is analyzed in an exactly solvable model. A novel aspect of Berry's connection Ak{\mathcal{A}}_{k}Ak​ is that the geometrical center of the monopolelike configuration and the origin of the Dirac string are displaced in the parameter space. Gauss's theorem ${\ensuremath{\int}}_{S}(\ensuremath{\nabla}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathcal{A})\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}d\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{S}={\ensuremath{\int}}_{V}\ensuremath{\nabla}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}(\ensuremath{\nabla}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathcal{A})dV=0$ for a volume VVV which is free of singularities shows that a combination of the monopolelike configuration and the Dirac string is effectively a dipole. The smooth topology change from a dipole to a monopole with a quantized magnetic charge ${e}_{M}=2\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\hbar}$ takes place when one regards the Dirac string as unobservable if it satisfies the Wu-Yang gauge invariance condition. In the transitional region from a dipole to a monopole, a half-monopole appears with an observable Dirac string, which is analogous to the Aharonov-Bohm phase of an electron for the magnetic flux generated by the Cooper pair condensation. The main topological features of an exactly solvable model are shown to be supported by a generic model of Berry's phase.
Abstract Majorana stars, the antipodal directions associated with the coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin state, provide a visualization and a geometric understanding of the structures of general quantum states. For example, the Berry phase of a spin-1/2 is given by half the solid angle enclosed by the close path of its Majorana star. It is conceivable that the Berry phase of higher spins may also be related to the geometry of the Majorana constellation. We find that for a spin-1 state, besides the expected contributions from the solid angles enclosed by the close paths of the two Majorana stars, the Berry phase includes a term related to the twist of the relative position vector around the barycenter vector of the two Majorana stars, i.e., the self-rotation of the constellation. Interestingly, if the spin-1 state is taken as a symmetrized two-qubit state, the extra contribution to the Berry phase is given by the self-rotation of the Majorana constellation weighted by the quantum entanglement of the two qubits. This discovery alludes to the relevance of the Majorana stellar geometry in representing the deep structures of quantum states and of quantum entanglement.
This paper contains an evaluation of the Berry phases associated with the following class of nonlinear spin Hamiltonians : H (B, n ) = γS S · B + γQ((S · n) 2 - S2/3), with B · n = 0. Examples of these Hamiltonians are given in Atomic and Solid State Physics. We compute exactly the Berry phases for S = 1, 3/2 and for S > 3/2, to second order with respect to the ratio γQ/(γS B ). The results involve loop integrals of an Abelian gauge field which can be considered as a generalization of the magnetic monopole field, the projective complex plane P2(C) playing the role of the sphere S2. In the case of the spin-1 the relation between the Aharonov and Anandan cyclic quantum phase and the Berry adiabatic phase is made explicit. The connection between the semiclassical limit of the Berry phase and the classical adiabatic Hannay angle is analyzed using the classical spin model recently proposed by Nielsen and Rohrlich.