Topological Incarnations of Electroweak Defects

Abstract

We propose a criterion to classify hybrid defects occurring in field theoretic models such as the standard electroweak model. This criterion leads us to consider the minimal extension of the electroweak model in which electroweak magnetic monopoles and $Z$-strings are topological. We briefly discuss the cosmology of such defects.

Comments: 12 pages + 1 figure; LaTeX