A Texture Bestiary

Abstract

Textures are topologically nontrivial field configurations which can exist in a field theory in which a global symmetry group $G$ is broken to a subgroup $H$, if the third homotopy group $\p3$ of $G/H$ is nontrivial. We compute this group for a variety of choices of $G$ and $H$, revealing what symmetry breaking patterns can lead to texture. We also comment on the construction of texture configurations in the different models.