Stationary ring solitons in field theory - knots and vortons
Eugen Radu, Mikhail S. Volkov
备注：
103 pages, 31 figures. Numerous modifications in the text, a strongly expanded description of Faddeev-Skyrme knots, a new section on spinning Q-balls as light bullets, many new references. To appear in Physics Reports
We review the current status of the problem of constructing classical field theory solutions describing stationary vortex rings in Minkowski space in 3+1 dimensions. We describe the known up to date solutions of this type, such as the static knot solitons stabilized by the topological Hopf charge, the attempts to gauge them, the anomalous solitons stabilized by the Chern-Simons number, as well as the non-Abelian monopole and sphaleron rings. Passing to the rotating solutions, we first discuss the conditions insuring that they do not radiate, and then describe the spinning $Q$-balls, their twisted and gauged generalizations reported here for the first time, spinning skyrmions, and rotating monopole-antimonopole pairs. We then present the first explicit construction of global vortons as solutions of the elliptic boundary value problem, which demonstrates their non-radiating character. Finally, we describe the analogs of vortons in the Bose-Einstein condensates, analogs of spinning $Q$-balls in the non-linear optics, and also moving vortex rings in superfluid helium and in ferromagnetics.
Vortons can be viewed as (flat space-) field theory analogs of black rings in general relativity. They are made from loops of vortices, being sustained against collapse by the centrifugal force. In this work we discuss such configurations in the global version of Witten's U(1)xU(1) theory. We first consider solutions in a flat spacetime background and show their non-uniqueness. The inclusion of gravity leads to new features. In particular, an ergoregion can occur. Also, similar to boson stars, we show that the vortons exist only in a limited frequency range. The coupling to gravity gives rise …
We show that a multiply-quantized vortex line core can be energetically stable in a harmonically trapped two-component atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The structure, in which the condensate component with the vortex line is surrounded by the second component forming a vortex ring, can be identified as a particlelike Skyrmion with a multiply-quantized winding number, and closely resembles cosmic vortons.
The existence of ring-like and knotted solitons in O(3) non-linear sigma model is analysed. The role of isotopy of knots/links in classifying such solitons is pointed out. Appearance of torus knot solitons is seen.
The conjecture that the elementary fermions are knotted flux tubes permit the construction of a phenomenology that is not accessible from the standard electroweak theory. In order to carry these ideas further we have attempted to formulate the elements of a field theory in which local SU(2) x U(1), the symmetry group of standard electroweak theory, is combined with global SU_q(2), the symmetry group of knotted solitons.
We study numerically the topological knot solution suggested recently in the Weinberg-Salam model. Applying the SU(2) gauge invariant Abelian projection we demonstrate that the restricted part of the Weinberg-Salam Lagrangian containing the interaction of the neutral boson with the Higgs scalar can be reduced to the Ginzburg-Landau model with the hidden SU(2) symmetry. The energy of the knot composed from the neutral boson and Higgs field has been evaluated by using the variational method with a modified Ward ansatz. The obtained numerical value is 39 Tev which provides the upper bound on the …
Using numerical simulations of the full nonlinear equations of motion we investigate topological solitons of a modified O(3) sigma model in three space dimensions, in which the solitons are stabilized by the Hopf charge. We find that for solitons up to charge five the solutions have the structure of closed strings, which become increasingly twisted as the charge increases. However, for higher charge the solutions are more exotic and comprise linked loops and knots. We discuss the structure and formation of these solitons and demonstrate that the key property responsible for producing such a ri…
For some non-linear field theories which allow for soliton solutions, submodels with infinitely many conservation laws can be defined. Here we investigate the symmetries of the submodels, where in some cases we find a symmetry enhancement for the submodels, whereas in others we do not.
We discuss the existence of knot solitons (Hopfions) in a Skryme-Faddeev-Niemi-type model on the target space $SU(3)/U(1)^2$, which can be viewed as an effective theory of both the $SU(3)$ Yang-Mills theory and the $SU(3)$ anti-ferromagnetic Heisenberg model. We derive the knot solitons with two different types of ansatz: the first is a trivial embedding configuration of $SU(2)$ into $SU(3)$, and the second is a non-embedding configuration that can be generated through the Bäcklund transformation. The resulting Euler-Lagrange equations for both ansatz reduce exactly to those of the $CP^1$ Skyr…
I consider electrodynamics and the problem of knotted solitons in two-component superconductors. Possible existence of knotted solitons in multicomponent superconductors was predicted several years ago. However their basic properties and stability in these systems remains an outstandingly difficult question both for analytical and numerical treatment. Here I propose a new perturbative approach to treat self-consistently all the degrees of freedom in the problem. I show that there exists a length scale for a Hopfion texture where the electrodynamics of a two-component superconductor is dominate…
We study the issue of stability of static soliton-like solutions in some non-linear field theories which allow for knotted field configurations. Concretely, we investigate the AFZ model, based on a Lagrangian quartic in first derivatives with infinitely many conserved currents, for which infinitely many soliton solutions are known analytically. For this model we find that sectors with different (integer) topological charge (Hopf index) are not separated by an infinite energy barrier. Further, if variations which change the topological charge are allowed, then the static solutions are not even …
We extend our earlier study of the electroweak interactions of quantum knots to their gravitational and strong interactions. The knots are defined by appropriate quantum groups and are intended to describe all knotted field structures that conserve mass and spin, charge and hypercharge, as well as color charge and color hypercharge. As sources of the gravitational fields the knots are described as representations of the quantum group $SL_q(2)$ and as sources of the electroweak and strong fields they are described by $SU_q(2)$. When the point sources of the standard theory are replaced by the q…
In this paper we derive a dual presentation of free energy functional for spin-triplet superconductors in terms of gauge-invariant variables. The resulting equivalent model in ferromagnetic phase has a form of a version of the Faddeev model. This allows one in particular to conclude that spin-triplet superconductors allow formation of stable finite-length closed vortices (the knotted solitons).
Previously we have proposed that in certain relativistic quantum field theories knotlike configurations may appear as stable solitons. Here we present a detailed investigation of the simplest knotted soliton, the torus-shaped unknot.
Using methods of high performance computing, we have found indications that knotlike structures appear as stable finite energy solitons in a realistic 3+1 dimensional model. We have explicitly simulated the unknot and trefoil configurations, and our results suggest that all torus knots appear as solitons. Our observations open new theoretical possibilities in scenarios where stringlike structures appear, including physics of fundamental interactions and early universe cosmology. In nematic liquid crystals and 3He superfluids such knotted solitons might actually be observed.
We discuss a mixture of interacting a neutral and a charged Bose condensates, which is supposed being realized in interior of neutron stars in form of coexistent neutron superfluid and protonic superconductor. We show that in this system, besides ordinary vortices of $S^1\to S^1$ map, the neutron condensate also allows for (meta)stable finite-length knotted solitons, which are characterized by a nontrivial Hopf invariant and in some circumsatnces are stablized by Faddeev-Skyrme term induced by drag effect. We also consider a helical protonic fluxtube in this system and show that, in contrast, …
Recently it has been shown that there exists a sector within the Faddeev-Niemi model for which the equations of motion may be reduced to first order equations. However, no solutions to that sector have been given. It is not even known whether this sector contains topologically nontrivial solutions, at all. Here, we show that two models with analytically known Hopf solitons, namely the Nicole and the Aratyn-Ferreira-Zimerman models, possess sectors which can be integrated to first order partial differential equations. The main result is that these sectors are topologically nontrivial. In fact, …
We study a modified version of the Ginzburg-Landau model suggested by Ward and show that Hopfions exist in it as stable static solutions, for values of the Hopf invariant up to at least 7. We also find that their properties closely follow those of their counterparts in the Faddeev-Skyrme model. Finally, we lend support to Babaev's conjecture that longer core lengths yield more stable solitons and propose a possible mechanism for constructing Hopfions in pure Ginzburg-Landau model.
We show that a charged two-condensate Ginzburg-Landau model or equivalently a Gross-Pitaevskii functional for two charged Bose condensates, can be mapped onto a version of the nonlinear O(3) $σ$-model. This implies in particular that such a system possesses a hidden O(3) symmetry and allows for the formation of stable knotted solitons. The results, in particular, should be relevant to the superconducting MgB_2.
By comparision with numerical results in the maximal Abelian projection of lattice Yang-Mills theory, it is argued that the nonperturbative dynamics of Yang Mills theory can be described by a set of fields that take their values in the coset space SU(2)/U(1). The Yang-Mills connection is parameterized in a special way to separate the dependence on the coset field. The coset field is then regarded as a collective variable, and a method to obtain its effective action is developed. It is argued that the physical excitations of the effective action may be knot solitons. A procedure to calculate th…
We study the geometry of interacting knotted solitons. The interaction is local and advances either as a three-body or as a four-body process, depending on the relative orientation and a degeneracy of the solitons involved. The splitting and adjoining is governed by a four-point vertex in combination with duality transformations. The total linking number is preserved during the interaction. It receives contributions both from the twist and the writhe, which are variable. Therefore solitons can twine and coil and links can be formed.
If the Lie group of a non-Abelian theory is replaced by the corresponding q-group, one is led to replace the Lie algebra by two dual algebras. The first of these lies close to the Lie algebra that it is replacing while the second introduces new degrees of freedom. We interpret the theory based on the first algebra as a modification of standard field theory while we propose that the new degrees of freedom introduced by the second algebra describe solitonic rather than point particle sources. We have earlier found that the modified q-electroweak theory differs very little from the standard theor…
We propose an approach which enables one to obtain simultaneously the glueball mass and the gluon mass in the gauge-invariant way to shed new light on the mass gap problem in Yang-Mills theory. First, we point out that the Faddeev (Skyrme--Faddeev-Niemi) model can be induced through the gauge-invariant vacuum condensate of mass dimension two from SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. Second, we obtain the glueball mass spectrum by performing the collective coordinate quantization of the topological knot soliton in the Faddeev model. Third, we demonstrate that a relationship between the glueball mass and th…
The idea that the elementary particles might have the symmetry of knots has had a long history. In any current formulation of this idea, however, the knot must be quantized. The present review is a summary of a small set of papers that began as an attempt to correlate the properties of quantized knots with the empirical properties of the elementary particles. As the ideas behind these papers have developed over a number of years the model has evolved, and this review is intended to present the model in its current form. The original picture of an elementary fermion as a solitonic knot of field…
It has been suggested recently that knots might exist as stable soliton solutions in a simple three-dimensional classical field theory, opening up a wide range of possible applications in physics and beyond. We have re-examined and extended this work in some detail using a combination of analytic approximations and sophisticated numerical algorithms. For charges between one and eight, we find solutions which exhibit a rich and spectacular variety of phenomena, including stable toroidal solitons with twists, linked loops and also knots. The physical process which allows for this variety is the …
A pair of a domain wall and an anti-domain wall is unstable to decay. We show that when a vortex-string is stretched between the walls, there remains a knot soliton (Hopfion) after the pair annihilation.
The Skyrme-Faddeev model is a modified sigma model in three-dimensional space, which has string-like topological solitons classified by the integer-valued Hopf charge. Numerical simulations are performed to compute soliton solutions for Hopf charges up to sixteen, with initial conditions provided by families of rational maps from the three-sphere into the complex projective line. A large number of new solutions are presented, including a variety of torus knots for a range of Hopf charges. Often these knots are only local energy minima, with the global minimum being a linked solution, but for s…
Euclidean d=3 SU(2) Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons (YMCS) theory, including Georgi-Glashow (GGCS) theory, may have solitons in the presence of appropriate mass terms. For integral CS level k and for solitons carrying integral CS number, YMCS is gauge-invariant and consistent. However, individual solitons such as sphalerons and linked center vortices with CS number of 1/2 and writhing center vortices with arbitrary CS number are non-compact; a condensate of them threatens compactness of the theory. We study various forms of the non-compact theory in the dilute-gas approximation, treating the parameter…
A new class of non-linear O(3) models is introduced. It is shown that these systems lead to integrable submodels if an additional integrability condition (so called the generalized eikonal equation) is imposed. In the case of particular members of the family of the models the exact solutions describing toroidal solitons with a non-trivial value of the Hopf index are obtained. Moreover, the generalized eikonal equation is analyzed in detail. Topological solutions describing torus knots are presented. Multi-knot configurations are found as well.
We propose a reformulation of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in terms of new variables. These variables are appropriate for describing the theory in its infrared limit, and indicate that it admits knotlike configurations as stable solitons. As a consequence we arrive at a dual picture of the Yang-Mills theory where the short distance limit describes asymptotically free, massless point gluons and the large distance limit describes extended, massive knotlike solitons.
The Skyrme-Faddeev model is a three-dimensional non-linear field theory that has topological soliton solutions, called hopfions, which are novel string-like solutions taking the form of knots and links. Solutions found thus far take the form of torus knots and links of these, however torus knots form only a small family of known knots. It is an open question whether any non-torus knot hopfions exist. In this paper we present a construction of knotted fields with the form of cable knots to which an energy minimisation scheme can be applied. We find the first known hopfions which do not have the…
We propose a generalized Skyrme-Faddeev type theory with an additional scalar field. In a special case of model parameters one has a theory which admits exact knot solutions given by a class of exact toroidal solitons from Aratyn-Ferreira-Zimerman (AFZ) integrable CP1 model. In a general case the theory admits an exact knot solution for a unit Hopf charge. For higher Hopf charges we perform numeric analysis of the solutions and obtain estimates for the knot energies using energy minimization procedure based on ansatz with AFZ field configurations and with rational functions. We show that AFZ c…
We consider topological structure of classical vacuum solutions in quantum chromodynamics. Topologically non-equivalent vacuum configurations are classified by non-trivial second and third homotopy groups for coset of the color group SU(N) (N=2,3) under the action of maximal Abelian stability group. Starting with explicit vacuum knot configurations we study possible exact classical solutions as vacuum excitations. Exact analytic non-static knot solution in a simple CP^1 model in Euclidean space-time has been obtained. We construct an ansatz based on knot and monopole topological vacuum structu…
Field theories with a $S^2$-valued unit vector field living on $S^3 \times \RR$ space-time are investigated. The corresponding eikonal equation, which is known to provide an integrable sector for various sigma models in different spaces, is solved giving static as well as time-dependent multiply knotted configurations on $S^3$ with arbitrary values of the Hopf index. Using these results, we then find a set of hopfions with topological charge $Q_H=m^2$, $m \in \mathbf{Z}$, in the integrable subsector of the pure $CP^1$ model. In addition, we show that the $CP^1$ model with a potential term prov…
We consider the BEC-Skyrme model which is based on a Skyrme-type model with a potential motivated by Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and, in particular, we study the Skyrmions in proximity of a domain wall that inhabits the theory. The theory turns out to have a rich flora of Skyrmion solutions that manifest themselves as twisted vortex rings or vortons in the bulk and vortex handles attached to the domain wall. The latter are linked open vortex strings. We further study the interaction between the domain wall and the Skyrmion and between the vortex handles themselves as well as between the v…
We inspect a particular gauge field theory model that describes the properties of a variety of physical systems, including a charge neutral two-component plasma, a Gross-Pitaevskii functional of two charged Cooper pair condensates, and a limiting case of the bosonic sector in the Salam-Weinberg model. It has been argued that this field theory model also admits stable knot-like solitons. Here we produce numerical evidence in support for the existence of these solitons, by considering stable axis-symmetric solutions that can be thought of as straight twisted vortex lines clamped at the two ends.…
A central theme in many body physics is emergence - new properties arise when several particles are brought together. Particularly fascinating is the idea that the quantum statistics may be an emergent property. This was first noted in the Skyrme model of nuclear matter, where a theory formulated entirely in terms of a bosonic order parameter field contains fermionic excitations. These excitations are smooth field textures, and believed to describe neutrons and protons. We argue that a similar phenomenon occurs in topological insulators when superconductivity gaps out their surface states. Her…
