The following is an exploratory investigation into the viability of using period laws in questions pertaining to particle topology. Since the macro-micro distinction in physics is a metric-related notion, metric independence is taken to be the key to whether or not such laws can be extrapolated into the microphysical realm. The topology of microphysical structures can then be tested on their one-, two-, and three-connectedness with the help of three period laws. The partly qualitative topological information obtained by these metric-free criteria is then resubmitted to a process of metric adaptation for further quantitative answers.

• Received 24 April 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.25.3223