Quintet pairing and non-Abelian vortex string in spin-3/2 cold atomic systems

Abstract

We study the s-wave quintet Cooper pairing phase ($S_{tot}=2$) in spin-3/2 cold atomic systems and identify various novel features which do not appear in the spin-1/2 counterpart. A single quantum vortex is shown to be energetically less stable than a pair of half-quantum vortices (HQV). The HQV exhibits the global analogue of the non-Abelian Alice string and SO(4) Cheshire charge in gauge theories. The non-Abelian HQV loop enables topological generation of quantum entanglement.