Synthetic magnetic field in condensed matter

Perhaps unwittingly, the condensed matter physics community is living in an era of "synthetic magnetic field". What one means by this is some kind of texture in a condensed matter system which influences its elementary excitations in the same way the "real" magnetic field influences the dynamics of electrons. I will draw examples from several areas such as graphene, magnetic metals, Bose-Einstein condensates, and even in an ordinary insulating magnet. I hope to convey the view that the distinction between real and synthetic magnetic field is perhaps a notion of the previous century, and that young minds should be prepared to embrace all forms of magnetic fields as equally real based on their physical effects rather than on what produces them.