Theoretical study reveals fractional charge formation on magnetic monopoles in topological insulators, indicating that localized electron zero-modes drive the microscopic Witten effect.
In this article, we analyze a magnetic monopole in topological insulators. The monopole obtain a fractional electric charge because of the Witten effect. We consider this system with a microscopic view by adding the Wilson term to the ordinary Dirac Hamiltonian. The Wilson term yields the positive mass shift to the effective mass of the electrons, then the curved domain-wall is dynamically generated around the monopole. The zero-modes of the electrons are localized on the domain-wall, which can be identified as the source of the electric charge.
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Kan et al. (2024) studied this question.
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