The BF theory as an electric Julia-Toulouse condensate

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the Abelian BF topological term can be generated through electric charge condensation using the Julia-Toulouse mechanism, and explores consistent inclusion of magnetic defects in Maxwell-BF theory.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the Julia-Toulouse mechanism to derive the BF term and addresses the consistent incorporation of magnetic defects avoiding common theoretical issues.

Findings

BF term induced by electric charge condensation

Consistent magnetic defect inclusion in Maxwell-BF theory

New approach to Dirac's veto via Dirac brane symmetry

Abstract

The Julia-Toulouse mechanism is used to show that the topological Abelian BF term may be induced by the condensation of electric charges. As an application we discuss the subtle question of including consistently magnetic defects into the Maxwell-BF theory in a way to avoid the usual problems of current conservation, charge quantization, Elitzur's theorem violation and the reality of the Dirac brane, produced by the non-minimal coupling. We also discuss a new way of obtaining the Dirac's veto, which is based on the so-called Dirac brane symmetry.