Spin-flux attachment by dimensional reduction of vortices

Abstract

The description of a system of vortices in terms of dual fields provides a window to new phases of the system. It was found recently that dualizing a 3+1-d boson-fermion system leads to a system of fermions and vortices interacting via a 2-form field through a non-local term. Here we explore some consequences of such an interaction when the degrees of freedom of the system are confined to a 2+1-d space-time. In particular, we show that the vortices in the 2+1-d system are attached to the fermions via their non-zero spin magnetic moment in a way similar to the phenomenon of flux attachment in Chern-Simons gauge theory coupled to matter. We also show that such flux attached particles exhibit fractional statistical behaviour like anyons. Thus our model provides a realization of anyons without Chern-Simons theory.