Topologically protected vortex knots and links

Abstract

We propose a class of tangled vortex structures, tied from non-Abelian topological vortices, which are immune against decaying through local reconnections and strand crossings that are allowed by the system. We refer to such structures as being topologically protected. We then turn our attention to topological vortices classified by the quaternion group $Q_8$ ($Q_8$-colored links), which are realizable in systems consisting either of the biaxial nematic or the cyclic phase of a spin-2 Bose--Einstein condensate, or of biaxial nematic liquid crystal, and prove the existence of topologically protected $Q_8$-colored links. Remarkably, the strongest invariant we construct, the $Q$-invariant of $Q_8$-colored links, can be used to classify $Q_8$-colored links up to allowed local surgeries on the vortex cores.