We study magnetic flux tubes in the Higgs vacuum of the N=1^* mass deformation of SU(N_c), N=4 SYM and its large N_c string dual, the Polchinski-Strassler geometry. Choosing equal masses for the three adjoint chiral multiplets, for all N_c we identify a "colour-flavour locked" symmetry, SO(3)_{C+F} which leaves the Higgs vacuum invariant. At weak coupling, we find explicit non-Abelian k-vortex solutions carrying a Z_{N_c}-valued magnetic flux, with winding, 0 < k < N_c. These k-strings spontaneously break SO(3)_{C+F} to U(1)_{C+F} resulting in an S^2 moduli space of solutions. The world-sheet sigma model is a nonsupersymmetric CP^1 model with a theta angle θ_{1+1} = k(N_c-k)θ_{3+1} where θ_{3+1} is the Yang-Mills vacuum angle. We find numerically that k-vortex tensions follow the Casimir scaling law T_k \propto k (N_c-k) for large N_c. In the large N_c IIB string dual, the SO(3)_{C+F} symmetry is manifest in the geometry interpolating between AdS_5 x S^5 and the interior metric due to a single D5-brane carrying D3-brane charge. We identify candidate k-vortices as expanded probe D3-branes formed from a collection of k D-strings. The resulting k-vortex tension exhibits precise Casimir scaling, and the effective world-sheet theta angle matches the semiclassical result. S-duality maps the Higgs to the confining phase so that confining string tensions at strong 't Hooft coupling also exhibit Casimir scaling in N=1^* theory in the large N_c limit.
We find that Polyakov lines, computed in abelian-projected SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the confined phase, have finite expectation values for lines corresponding to two units of the abelian electric charge. This means that the abelian-projected lattice has at most Z(2), rather than U(1), global symmetry. We also find a severe breakdown of the monopole dominance approximation, as well as positivity, in this charge-2 case. These results imply that the abelian-projected lattice is not adequately represented by a monopole Coulomb gas; the data is, however, consistent with a center vortex structu…
We describe a new order parameter for the confinement-deconfinement transition in lattice SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. It is expressed in terms of magnetic monopole field correlators represented as sums over sheets of center vortices. Our construction establishes a link between "abelian" and "center dominance". It avoids an inconsistency in the treatment of small scales present in earlier definitions of monopole fields by respecting Dirac's quantization condition for magnetic fluxes.
We discuss the abelian vortex dynamics in the abelian projection approach to non-abelian spin models. We show numerically that in the three-dimensional SU(2) spin model in the Maximal Abelian projection the abelian off-diagonal vortices are not responsible for the phase transition contrary to the diagonal vortices. A generalization of the abelian projection approach to SU(N) spin models is briefly discussed.
We study a fully back-reacted non-abelian vortex solution in an extension of the holographic superconductor setup. The thermodynamic properties of the vortex are computed. We show that, in some regime of parameters, the non-abelian vortex solution has a lower free energy than a competing abelian vortex solution. The solution is dual to a finite-temperature perturbed conformal field theory with a topological defect, on which operators related to the Goldstone modes of a spontaneously broken symmetry are localized. We compute numerically the retarded Green function of these operators and we find…
We discuss a new approach to the investigation of the nature of the mass gap in spin systems with continuous global symmetries which is much analogous to the method of abelian projection in the gauge theories. We suggest that the abelian degrees of freedom, in particular, abelian vortices are responsible for the mass gap generation phenomena in the non-abelian spin systems. To check our hypothesis we study numerically the three-dimensional SU(2) spin model in the Maximal Abelian projection. We find that the abelian mass gap in the projected theory coincides with the full non-abelian mass gap w…
The excitations of the vortex in Abelian Higgs model with small ratio of vector and Higgs particle masses are considered. Three main modes encountered in numerical computations are described in detail. They are also compared to analytic results obtained recently by Arodz and Hadasz.
We discuss some of the latest results concerning the non-Abelian vortices. The first concerns the construction of non-Abelian BPS vortices based on general gauge groups of the form G= G' x U(1). In particular detailed results about the vortex moduli space have been obtained for G'=SO(N) or USp(2N). The second result is about the "fractional vortices", i.e., vortices of the minimum winding but having substructures in the tension (or flux) density in the transverse plane. Thirdly, we discuss briefly the monopole-vortex complex.
The AdS/CFT correspondence predicts that background non-abelian magnetic fields induce instabilities in strongly-coupled systems with non-abelian global symmetries. These instabilities lead to the formation of vortex lattices in which the non-abelian currents "antiscreen" the applied magnetic field. From the bulk perspective, this behaviour can be traced to a well-known instability of Yang-Mills theory. We analyse the phase structure of the instability and comment on aspects of the vortex lattice.
We investigate the flux-tube joining two equal and opposite electric charges using the dual Ginzburg-Landau model of superconductivity. The model is supplemented with an additional scalar field carrying a non-Abelian global symmetry, broken in the vortex cores. The presence of orientational moduli makes the flux tube non-Abelian. We perform a detailed study of the low energy theory of this soliton. We also analyze the solution representing superconducting droplets in the presence of the monopole anti - monopole pair.
The low energy dynamics of the vortices of the Abelian Chern-Simons-Higgs system is investigated from the adiabatic approach. The difficulties involved in treating the field evolution as motion on the moduli space in this system are shown. Another two generalized Abelian Higgs systems are discusssed with respect to their vortex dynamics at the adiabatic limit. The method works well and we find bound states in the first model and scattering at right angles in the second system.
Grand canonical ensemble of small vortex loops emerging in the London limit of the effective Abelian-projected theory of the SU(3)-gluodynamics is investigated in the dilute gas approximation. An essential difference of this system from the SU(2)-case is the presence of two interacting gases of vortex loops. Two alternative representations for the partition function of such a grand canonical ensemble are derived, and one of them, which is a representation in terms of the integrals over vortex loops, is employed for the evaluation of the correlators of both kinds of loops in the low-energy limi…
We perform a numerical study of the phase diagram of the model proposed in \cite{Shifman:2012vv}, which is a simple model containing non-Abelian vortices. As per the case of Abrikosov vortices, we map out a region of parameter space in which the system prefers the formation of vortices in ordered lattice structures. These are generalizations of Abrikosov vortex lattices with extra orientational moduli in the vortex cores. At sufficiently large lattice spacing the low energy theory is described by a sum of $CP(1)$ theories, each located on a vortex site. As the lattice spacing becomes smaller, …
The gauge-invariant Chern-Simons-type Lorentz- and CPT-breaking term is here reassessed and a spin-projector method is adopted to account for the breaking (vector) parameter. Issues like causality, unitarity, spontaneous gauge-symmetry breaking and vortex formation are investigated, and consistency conditions on the external vector are identified.
We discuss general properties and possible types of magnetic vortices in non-Abelian gauge theories (we consider here $G= SU(N), SO(N), USp(2N)$) in the Higgs phase. The sources of such vortices carry "fractional" quantum numbers such as $Z_n$ charge (for SU(N)), but also full non-Abelian charges of the dual gauge group. If such a model emerges as an effective dual magnetic theory of the fundamental (electric) theory, the non-Abelian vortices can provide for the mechanism of quark-confinement in the latter.
We show that there are solutions of the SU(2) Yang-Mills classical equations of motion in R^4, which are self-dual and vortex-like(fluxons). The action density is concentrated along a thick two-dimensional wall (the world sheet of a straight infinite vortex line). The configurations are constructed from self-dual R^2 x T^2 configurations.
We correct two errors in our previous computation of one-loop corrections to the vortex string tension: (i) the contribution of the longitudinal and timelike modes of the gauge fields were forgotten and are included now; (ii) a trivial error in the numerical code has led to considerable errors in the subtracted integrals. We here present the corrected results.
We define a class of supersymmetric defect loop operators in N = 2 gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions. We give a prescription for computing the expectation value of such operators in a generic N = 2 theory on the three-sphere using localization. We elucidate the role of defect loop operators in IR dualities of supersymmetric gauge theories, and write down their transformation properties under the SL(2, Z) action on conformal theories with abelian global symmetries.
In the London limit of the Ginzburg-Landau theory (Abelian Higgs model), vortex dipoles (small vortex loops) are treated as a grand canonical ensemble in the dilute gas approximation. The summation over these objects with the most general rotation- and translation invariant measure of integration over their shapes leads to effective sine-Gordon theories of the dual fields. The representations of the partition functions of both grand canonical ensembles are derived in the form of the integrals over the vortex dipoles and the small vortex loops, respectively. By virtue of these representations, …
Dyonic non-Abelian local/semi-global vortex strings are studied in detail in supersymmetric/non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills-Higgs theories. While the BPS tension formula is known to be the same as that for the BPS dyonic instanton, we find that the non-BPS tension formula is approximated very well by the well-known tension formula of the BPS dyon. We show that this mysterious tension formula for the dyonic non-BPS vortex stings can be understood from the perspective of a low energy effective field theory. Furthermore, we propose an efficient method to obtain an effective theory of a single vorte…
In a class of non-Abelian solitonic vortex strings supported in certain N=2 super-Yang-Mills theories we search for the vortex which can behave as a critical fundamental string. We use the Polchinski-Strominger criterion of the ultraviolet completeness. We identify an appropriate four-dimensional bulk theory: it has the U(2) gauge group, the Fayet-Iliopoulos term and four flavor hypermultiplets. It supports semilocal vortices with the world-sheet theory for orientational (size) moduli described by the weighted CP(2,2) model. The latter is superconformal. Its target space is six-dimensional. Th…
We consider a generalization of the abelian Higgs model with a Chern-Simons term by modifying two terms of the usual Lagrangian. We multiply a dielectric function with the Maxwell kinetic energy term and incorporate nonminimal interaction by considering generalized covariant derivative. We show that for a particular choice of the dielectric function this model admits topological vortices satisfying Bogomol'nyi bound for which the magnetic flux is not quantized even though the energy is quantized. Furthermore, the vortex solution in each topological sector is infinitely degenerate.
We discuss recent progress in describing a certain non-Abelian vortex string as a critical superstring on a conifold and clarify some subtle points. This particular solitonic vortex is supported in four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric QCD with the U(2) gauge group, N_f=4 quark flavors and the Fayet-Iliopoulos term. Under certain conditions the non-Abelian vortex can become infinitely thin and can be interpreted as a critical ten-dimensional superstring. In addition to four translational moduli the non-Abelian vortex under consideration carries six orientational and size moduli. The vortex modul…
We study vortex solutions in a theory with dynamics governed by two weakly coupled Abelian Higgs models, describing a hidden sector and a visible sector. We analyze the radial dependence of the axially symmetric solutions constructed numerically and discuss the stability of vortex configurations for different values of the model parameters, studying in detail vortex decay into lower energy configurations. We find that even in a weak coupling regime vortex solutions strongly depend on the parameters of both the visible and hidden sectors. We also discuss on qualitative grounds possible implicat…
In the context of softly broken N=2 supersymmetric quantum chromodynamics (SQCD), with a hierarchical gauge symmetry breaking SU(N+1) -> U(N) -> 1, at scales v1 and v2, respectively, where v1 >> v2, we construct monopole-vortex complex soliton-like solutions and examine their properties. They represent the minimum of the static energy under the constraint that the monopole and antimonopole positions sitting at the extremes of the vortex are kept fixed. They interpolate the 't Hooft-Polyakov-like regular monopole solution near the monopole centers and a vortex solution far from them and in betw…
A d-wave holographic superconductor is studied under a constant magnetic field by perturbation method, we obtain both droplet and triangular vortex lattice solution. The results are the same as the s-wave holographic superconductor. The non-Abelian holographic superconductor with $p+ip$-wave background is also studied under magnetic field, unlike the d-wave and s-wave models, we find that the non-Abelian model has only droplet solution.
Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) vortices in U(N) gauge theories have two layers corresponding to non-Abelian and Abelian fluxes, whose widths depend nontrivially on the ratio of U(1) and SU(N) gauge couplings. We find numerically and analytically that the widths differ significantly from the Compton lengths of lightest massive particles with the appropriate quantum number.
We introduce and study a pure gauge abelian theory in 2+1D in which massive quantum vortex states do exist in the spectrum of excitations. This theory can be mapped in a three dimensional gas of point particles with a logarithmic interaction, in the grand-canonical ensemble. We claim that this theory is the 2+1D analog of the Sine-Gordon, the massive vortices being the counterparts of Sine-Gordon solitons. We show that a symmetry breaking, order parameter, similar to the vacuum expectation value of a Higgs field does exist.
Numerical data for the SU(2) confining string in the maximal abelian projection are analysed. The distribution of the electric flux and monopole currents are perfectly described by the classical equations of motion for the dual Abelian Higgs model. The mass of the vector boson is equal to the mass of the monopole (Higgs particle) within numerical errors. The classical energy per unit length of the Abrikosov vortex reproduces 94% of the full non-Abelian string tension.
We study the properties of a single magnetic vortex and magnetic vortex lattices in a generalization of the Abelian Higgs model containing the simplest derivative interaction that preserves the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry of the original model. The paper is motivated by the study of finite isospin chiral perturbation theory in a uniform, external : since pions are Goldstone bosons of QCD (due to chiral symmetry breaking by the QCD vacuum), they interact through momentum dependent terms. We introduce a uniform external magnetic field and find the asymptotic properties of single vortex solutions and c…
The dynamics of the non-Abelian vortex-string, which describes its low energy oscillations into the target $D=3+1$ spacetime as well as its orientations in the internal space, is derived by the approach of nonlinear realization. The resulting action correlating these two sectors is found to have an invariant synthesis form of the Nambu-Goto-${\bf C}P^{N-1}$ model actions. Higher order corrections to the vortex actions are presented up to the order of quartic derivatives. General $p$-brane dynamics in terms of the internal symmetry breaking is also discussed.
We discuss dual formulations of vortex strings (magnetic flux tubes) in the four-dimensional ${\cal N} =1$ supersymmetric Abelian Higgs model with the Fayet--Iliopoulos term in the superspace formalism. The Lagrangian of the model is dualized into a Lagrangian of the $BF$-type described by a chiral spinor gauge superfield including a 2-form gauge field. The dual Lagrangian is further dualized into a Lagrangian given by a chiral spinor superfield including a massive 2-form field. In both of the dual formulations, we obtain a superfield into which the vortex strings and their superpartners are e…
We study the interactions of non-abelian vortices in two spatial dimensions. These interactions have novel features, because the Aharonov-Bohm effect enables a pair of vortices to exchange quantum numbers. The cross section for vortex-vortex scattering is typically a multi-valued function of the scattering angle. There can be an exchange contribution to the vortex-vortex scattering amplitude that adds coherently with the direct amplitude, even if the two vortices have distinct quantum numbers. Thus two vortices can be ``indistinguishable'' even though they are not the same.
We construct effective actions for non-Abelian 1/4 Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) monopole-vortex complexes in 4d N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge groups U(N), U(1) \times SO(2n) and U(1) \times USp(2n). In the color-flavor locked vacuum with degenerate hypermultiplet masses, a subgroup of the color-flavor diagonal symmetry remains unbroken and gives internal orientational moduli to vortices which confine monopoles in the Higgs phase. In this paper we discuss the effective action which describes the interactions between monopoles and the orientational moduli of non-Abelian …
We give a systematic method to calculate higher derivative corrections to low-energy effective theories of solitons, which are in general non-linear sigma models on the moduli spaces of the solitons. By applying it to the effective theory of a single BPS non-Abelian vortex in U(N) gauge theory with N fundamental Higgs fields, we obtain four derivative corrections to the effective sigma model on the moduli space C \times CP^{N-1}. We compare them with the Nambu-Goto action and the Faddeev-Skyrme model. We also show that Yang-Mills instantons/monopoles trapped inside a non-Abelian vortex membran…
We consider the possibility of localizing gravity on a Nielsen-Olesen vortex in the context of the Abelian Higgs model. The vortex lives in a six-dimensional space-time with negative bulk cosmological constant. In this model we find a region of the parameter space leading, simultaneously, to warped compactification and to regular space-time geometry. A thin defect limit is studied. Regular solutions describing warped compactifications in the case of higher winding number are also presented.
A Josephson junction is made of two superconductors sandwiching an insulator, and a Josephson vortex is a magnetic vortex (flux tube) absorbed into the Josephson junction, whose dynamics can be described by the sine-Gordon equation. In a field theory framework, a flexible Josephson junction was proposed, in which the Josephson junction is represented by a domain wall separating two condensations and a Josephson vortex is a sine-Gordon soliton in the domain wall effective theory. In this paper, we propose a Josephson junction of non-Abelian color superconductors, that is described by a non-Abel…
The low-energy vortex effective action is constructed in a wide class of systems in a color-flavor locked vacuum, which generalizes the results found earlier in the context of U(N) models. It describes the weak fluctuations of the non-Abelian orientational moduli on the vortex worldsheet. For instance, for the minimum vortex in SO(2N) x U(1) or USp(2N) x U(1) gauge theories, the effective action found is a two-dimensional sigma model living on the Hermitian symmetric spaces SO(2N)/U(N) or USp(2N)/U(N), respectively. The fluctuating moduli have the structure of that of a quantum particle state …
We study three-dimensional Yang-Mills-Higgs theories with and without a Chern-Simons interaction. We find that these theories admit a rich spectrum of vortex solitons carrying both a topological charge and a global flavour charge. We further derive a low-energy description of the vortex dynamics from a gauged linear sigma model on the vortex worldline.
We construct an extension of the Abelian Higgs model, which consists of a complex scalar field by including an additional real, electromagnetically neutral scalar field. We couple this real scalar field to the complex scalar field via a quartic coupling and investigate $U(1)$ vortex solutions in this "extended Abelian Higgs Model". Since this model has two additional homogeneous ground states, the $U(1)$ vortices that can form in this model have a richer structure than in the Abelian Higgs Model. We also find the "phase diagram" of the model showing the parameter space in which the real scalar…
Quark matter at high density may exhibit color superconductivity. As magnetic flux tubes in metallic superconductors, color magnetic flux tubes as non-Abelian vortices appear in the color-flavor locked phase of high density QCD. ${\mathbb C}P^2$ Nambu-Goldstone bosons and Majorana fermions belonging to the triplet representation are known to be localized around a non-Abelian vortex. In this paper, we determine the coupling of these bosonic and fermionic modes by using the nonlinear realization method.
Abelian and center gauges are considered in continuum Yang-Mills theory in order to detect the magnetic monopole and center vortex content of gauge field configurations. Specifically we examine the Laplacian Abelian and center gauges, which are free of Gribov copies, as well as the center gauge analog of the (Abelian) Polyakov gauge. In particular, we study meron, instanton and instanton-anti-instanton field configurations in these gauges and determine their monopole and vortex content. While a single instanton does not give rise to a center vortex, we find center vortices for merons. Furtherm…
The dynamics of the gauge vortex with arbitrary form of a contour is considered in the framework of the nonrelativistic Abelian Higgs model, including the possibility of the gauge field interaction with the fermion asymmetric background. The equations for the time derivatives of the curvature and the torsion of the vortex contour generalizing the Betchov-Da Rios equations in hydrodynamics, are obtained. They are applied to study the conservation of helicity of the gauge field forming the vortex, twist, and writhe numbers of the vortex contour. It is shown that the conservation of helicity is b…
Excitation of a vortex in the Abelian Higgs model is investigated with the help of a polynomial approximation. The excitation can be regarded as a longitudinal component of the vector field trapped by the vortex. The energy and profile of the excitation are found. Back-reaction of the excitation on the vortex is calculated in the small $κ$ limit. It turns out that in the presence of the excitation the vortex effectively becomes much wider - its radius oscillates in time and for all times it is not smaller than the radius of the unexcited vortex. Moreover, we find that the vector field of the e…
Among newly discovered M2, M5 objects in the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson theory, our interest is about half BPS vortices which are covariantly holomorphic curves in transverse coordinates. We restrict ourselves to the case where the global symmetry is broken to so(2) x so(2)x so(4) for the mass deformed Bagger-Lambert theory. A localized object with finite energy exists in this theory where the mass parameter supports regularity. It is time independent but carries angular momentum coming solely from the gauge potential by which the energy is bounded below.
Color symmetry is spontaneously broken in quark matter at high density as a consequence of di-quark condensations with exhibiting color superconductivity. Non-Abelian vortices or color magnetic flux tubes stably exist in the color-flavor locked phase at asymptotically high-density. The effective worldsheet theory of a single non-Abelian vortex was previously calculated in the singular gauge to obtain the ${\mathbb C}P^2$ model [ arXiv:0908.4470 , arXiv:0912.1352 ]. Here, we reconstruct the effective theory in a regular gauge without taking a singular gauge, confirming the previous results in t…
We propose a modified version of the Ginzburg-Landau energy functional admitting static solitons and determine all the Painlevé-integrable cases of its Bogomolny equations of a given class of models. Explicit solutions are determined in terms of the third Painlevé transcendents, allowing us to calculate physical quantities such as the vortex number and the vortex strength. These solutions can be interpreted as the usual Abelian-Higgs vortices on surfaces of non-constant curvature with conical singularity.
After briefly reviewing the problems associated with non-Abelian monopoles, we turn our attention to the development in our understanding of non-Abelian {\it vortices} in the last several years. In the U(N) model with $N_{f}=N$ flavors in which they were first found, the fluctuations of the orientational modes along the vortex length and in time become strongly coupled at long distances. They effectively reduce to Abelian ANO vortices. We discuss then a very recent work on non-Abelian vortices with $CP^{n-1}\times CP^{r-1}$ orientational moduli, which, unlike the ones so far extensively studie…
We consider nonlinear gauged sigma-models with Kahler domain and target. For a special choice of potential these models admit Bogomolny (or self-duality) equations -- the so-called vortex equations. We find the moduli space and energy spectrum of the solutions of these equations when the gauge group is a torus T^n, the domain is compact, and the target is C^n or CP^n. We also obtain a large family of solutions when the target is a compact Kahler toric manifold.
We present an exact numerical computation of the one-loop correction of the string tension for the Nielsen-Olesen vortex in the Abelian Higgs model. The computations proceeds via the computation of the Euclidean Green's function for the gauge, Higgs and Faddeev-Popov fields using mode functions, and taking the appropriate trace. Renormalization is an essential part of this computation, it is done by removing leading order contributions from the numerical results so as to make these finite, and to add the divergent parts back, after suitable regularization and renormalization. We encounter and …
We propose color magnetism as a generalization of the ordinary Heisenberg (anti-)ferro magnets on a triangular lattice. Vortex matter consisting of an Abrikosov lattice of non-Abelian vortices with color magnetic fluxes shows a color ferro or anti-ferro magnetism, depending on the interaction among the vortex sites. A prime example is a non-Abelian vortex lattice in rotating dense quark matter, showing a color ferromagnetism. We show that the low-energy effective theory for the vortex lattice system in the color ferromagnetic phase is described by a 3+1 dimensional $CP^{N-1}$ nonlinear sigma m…
We study the problem of vortex solutions in the background of an electrically charged black string. We show numerically that the Abelian Higgs field equations in the background of a four-dimensional black string have vortex solutions. These solutions which have axial symmetry, show that the black string can support the Abelian Higgs field as hair. This situation holds also in the case of the extremal black string. We also consider the self-gravity of the Abelian Higgs field and show that the effect of the vortex is to induce a deficit angle in the metric under consideration.
We construct Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution in the noncommutative abelian Higgs model. We derive the quantized topological flux of the vortex solution. We find that the flux is integral by explicit computation in the large $θ$ limit as well as in the small $θ$ limit. In the context of a tachyon vortex on the brane-antibrane system we demonstrate that it is this topological charge that gives rise to the RR charge of the resulting BPS D-brane. We also consider the left-right-symmetric gauge theory which does not have a commutative limit and construct an exact vortex solution in it.
Starting from an anomaly-free Abelian Higgs model coupled to gravity in a 6-dimensional space-time we construct an effective four-dimensional theory of charged fermions interacting with U(1) Abelian gauge field and gravity, both localised near the core of a Nielsen-Olesen vortex configuration. We show that an anomaly free theory in 6-dimensions can give rise to an anomalous theory in D=4, which suggests a possibility of consistent regularisation of abelian anomalous chiral gauge theories in four dimensions. We also show that the spectrum of charged bulk fermions has a mass gap.
Recently a special vortex string was found [5] in a class of soliton vortices supported in four-dimensional Yang-Mills theories that under certain conditions can become infinitely thin and can be interpreted as a critical ten-dimensional string. The appropriate bulk Yang-Mills theory has the U(2) gauge group and the Fayet-Iliopoulos term. It supports semilocal non-Abelian vortices with the world-sheet theory for orientational and size moduli described by the weighted CP(2,2) model. The full target space is R_4\times Y_6 where Y_6 is a non-compact Calabi-Yau space. We study the above vortex str…
Let L --> X be a complex line bundle over a compact connected Riemann surface. We consider the abelian vortex equations on L when the metric on the surface has finitely many point degeneracies or conical singularities and the line bundle has parabolic structure. These conditions appear naturally in the study of vortex configurations with constraints, or configurations invariant under the action of a finite group. We first show that the moduli space of singular vortex solutions is the same as in the regular case. Then we compute the total volume and total scalar curvature of the moduli space si…
When a color superconductor of high density QCD is rotating, superfluid vortices are inevitably created along the rotation axis. In the color-flavor locked phase realized at the asymptotically large chemical potential, there appear non-Abelian vortices carrying both circulations of superfluid and color magnetic fluxes. A family of solutions has a degeneracy characterized by the Nambu-Goldtone modes CP2, associated with the color-flavor locked symmetry spontaneously broken in the vicinity of the vortex. In this paper, we study electromagnetic coupling of the non-Abelian vortices and find that t…
The interplay of gauge dynamics and flavor symmetries often leads to remarkably subtle phenomena in the presence of soliton configurations. Non-Abelian vortices -- vortex solutions with continuous internal orientational moduli -- provide an example. Here we study the effect of weakly gauging a U(1)_R subgroup of the flavor symmetry on such BPS vortex solutions. Our prototypical setting consists of an SU(2) x U(1) gauge theory with N_f=2 sets of fundamental scalars that break the gauge symmetry to an "electromagnetic" U(1). The weak U(1)_R gauging converts the well-known CP1 orientation modulus…
We point out that half-quantized non-Abelian vortices exist as the minimum energy states in rotating neutron $^3P_2$ superfluids in the inner cores of magnetars with magnetic field greater than $3 \times 10^{15}$ Gauss, while they do not in ordinary neutron stars with smaller magnetic fields. One integer vortex is split into two half-quantized vortices. The number of vortices is about $10^{19}$ and they are separated at about $μ$m in a vortex lattice for typical parameters, while the vortex core size is about 10-100 fm. They are non-Abelian vortices characterized by non-Abelian first homotopy …