What is instanton

[MathematicalPhysicist]

what is it?

 

[jcsd]

A solution to the self-dual Yang-Mills equations in four-dimensional Euclidean space,

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Instaton.html

Instantons, represent a basic non-perturbative aspect of non-abelian gauge theories like Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the very successful theory of strong interactions within the Standard Model. About 25 years ago, they were theoretically discovered and first studied by Belavin et al. and 't Hooft, respectively. As topologically non-trivial fluctuations of the gluon fields, with a typical size of 0.3-0.5 fermi, QCD-instantons are expected to play an important role in the transition region between a partonic and a hadronic description of strong interactions. Yet, despite substantial theoretical evidence for the importance of instantons in chiral symmetry breaking and hadron spectroscopy, their direct experimental verification is lacking until now.

http://www.desy.de/~t00fri/instanton.html

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~jcl/classnotes/math/geometry/instanton/instanton.html

 

[Nacho]

instant-on
what is it?

Dang! If only I had a dirty(dirtier?) mind, I might be able to answer that! :0)

 

[heusdens]

I only heard about "instanton" in cosmological theories (Hawking-Turok), is that something related to this?