Monopoles, vortices and their correlations in SU(3) gauge group

Abstract

Topological defects such as monopoles, vortices and "chains"of the SU(3) gauge group are studied using its SU(2) subgroups. Two appropriate successive gauge transformations are applied to the subgroups to identify the chains of monopoles and vortices. Using the fact that the defects of the subgroups are not independent, the SU(3) defects and the Lagrangian are obtained and compared with the ones provided by Cho decomposition method. By comparing the results with the ones which have been obtained directly for the SU(3) gauge group, the relation and possible interactions between the defects of the subgroups are discussed.