Topological excitations in compact Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory.

We construct a lattice model of compact (2+1)-dimensional Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory, starting from its formulation in terms of gauge invariant quantities proposed by Deser and Jackiw. We thereby identify the topological excitations and their interactions. These consist of monopole-antimonopole pairs bounded by strings carrying both magnetic flux and electric charge. The electric charge renders the Dirac strings observable and endows them with a finite energy per unit length, which results in a linearly confining string tension. Additionally, the strings interact via an imaginary, topological term measuring the (self-) linking number of closed strings.