We compute the index and associated spectral density for fluctuation operators which are defined via the Lagrangian of N=2 SQCD in the background of non-abelian confined multimonopoles. To this end we generalize the standard index calculations of Callias and Weinberg to the case of asymptotically nontrivial backgrounds. The resulting index is determined by topological charges. We conjecture that this index counts one quarter of the dimension of the moduli space of confined multimonopoles.
It is known that monopoles can be confined by vortex-strings in d=3+1 while vortices can be confined by domain-lines in d=2+1. Here, as a higher dimensional generalization of these, we show that Yang-Mills instantons can be confined by monopole-strings in d=4+1. We achieve this by putting the system into the Higgs phase in which the configuration can be constructed inside a non-Abelian vortex sheet.
We study different aspects of monopoles in the Higgs phase which are confined by (non-abelian) vortices in \cal{N}=2 SQCD with gauge group U(N) and N_f >= N massive flavors, including generalized FI-terms. We compute in particular the perturbative quantum corrections for (multiple) confined monopoles and identify an anomalous contribution in the central charge. For N_f = N the results match the quantum corrections for kinks in two-dimensional CP^{N-1} models. To regulate the theory we embedded it in a six-dimensional model with constant U(1) background fields which generate the masses upon dim…
We analytically show that mesonic bound states of confined monopoles appear inside a non-Abelian vortex-string in massless three-flavor QCD at large quark chemical potential mu. The orientational modes CP^2 in the internal space of a vortex is described by the low-energy effective world-sheet theory. Mesons of confined monopoles are dynamically generated as bound states of kinks by the quantum effects in the effective theory. The mass of monopoles is shown to be an exponentially soft scale Delta*exp[-c*(mu/Delta)^2], with the color superconducting gap Delta and some constant c. A possible quar…
According to the standard lore only single monopoles contribute to the superpotential on the Coulomb branch of 3D ${\mathcal N}=2$ SUSY gauge theories. However we argue that multi-monopole configurations can also generate superpotential terms in the presence of squark VEVs on the mixed Higgs-Coulomb branch. The new ingredient is the confinement of monopoles via Nielsen-Olesen flux tubes. Such confined multi-monopoles will yield a pre-ADS superpotential which depends both on the local Coulomb moduli and matter superfields but has no fractional powers. Once the lifted moduli are integrated out t…
We review some recent ideas regarding classical topological objects in dual superconductor models that could represent different confining states of the gluon field. We also comment about natural components in (magnetic) ensembles that could effectively originate these models at large distances.
The Omega-deformation is a harmonic trap, penning certain excitations near the origin in a manner consistent with supersymmetry. Here we explore the dynamics of BPS monopoles and vortices in such a trap. We pay particular attention to monopoles in the Higgs phase, when they are confined to a vortex string. Unusually for BPS solitons, the mass of these confined monopoles is quadratic in the topological charges. We compute an index theorem to determine the number of collective coordinates of confined monopoles. Despite being restricted to move on a line, we find that they have a rich dynamics. A…
Non-Abelian strings exist in the color-flavor locked phase of dense QCD. We show that kinks appearing in the world-sheet theory on these strings, in the form of the kink-antikink bound pairs, are the magnetic monopoles --- descendants of the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles surviving in such a special form in dense QCD. Our consideration is heavily based on analogies and inspiration coming from certain supersymmetric non-Abelian theories. This is the first ever analytic demonstration that objects unambiguously identifiable as the magnetic monopoles are "native" to non-Abelian Yang-Mills theories (a…
We consider composite string solutions in N=2 SQCD with the gauge group U(N), the Fayet--Iliopoulos term ξ\neq 0 and N (s)quark flavors. These bulk theories support non-Abelian strings and confined monopoles identified with kinks in the two-dimensional world-sheet theory. Similar and more complicated kinks (corresponding to composite confined monopoles) must exist in the world-sheet theories on composite strings. In a bid to detect them we analyze the Hanany--Tong (HT) model, focusing on a particular example of N=2. Unequal quark mass terms in the bulk theory result in the twisted masses in th…
We argue that strings (vortices) and monopoles are confined, when fields receiving nontrivial Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phases around a string develop vacuum expectation values (VEVs). We illustrate this in an $SU(2) \times U(1)$ gauge theory with charged triplet complex scalar fields admitting Alice strings and monopoles, by introducing charged doublet scalar fields receiving nontrivial AB phases around the Alice string. The Alice string carries a half $U(1)$ magnetic flux and $1/4$ $SU(2)$ magnetic flux taking a value in two of the $SU(2)$ generators characterizing the $U(1)$ modulus. This string i…
In this paper we study massless fermions coupled to spherically symmetric $SU(N)$ monopoles without Yukawa couplings between the Higgs and fermion fields. The corresponding Dirac operator is not Fredholm and the associated eigenfunctions are not $L^2$-normalizable. Here we derive a formula for the dimension of the plane-wave normalizable kernel of such a Dirac operator for fermions of any representation of $SU(N)$ in the presence of any spherically symmetric monopole background. Notably, our results also apply to fermions coupled to monopoles that preserve non-abelian gauge symmetry.
We compute a certain index for an N=4 Chern-Simons theory with gauge group U(N)^r in the large N limit with taking account of monopole contribution, and compare it to the corresponding multi-particle index for M-theory in the dual geometry AdS_4 x X_7. The internal space X_7 has non-trivial two-cycles, and M2-branes wrapped on them contribute to the multi-particle index. We establish one-to-one map between r-1 independent magnetic charges on the gauge theory side and the same number of charges on the gravity side: the M-momentum and r-2 (=b_2(X_7)) wrapping numbers. With a certain assumption f…
The intersection of the 10-dimensional fuzzy conifold $Y_F^{10}$ with $S^5_F \times S^5_F$ is the compact 8-dimensional fuzzy space $X_F^8$. We show that $X_F^8$ is (the analogue of) a principal $U(1)\times U(1)$ bundle over fuzzy ${SU(3)}/({U(1) \times U(1)}) \left(\equiv\mathcal{M}^6_F\right)$. We construct $\mathcal{M}_F^6$ using the Gell-Mann matrices by adapting Schwinger's construction. The space $\mathcal{M}_F^6$ is of relevance in higher dimensional quantum Hall effect and matrix models of $D$-branes. Further we show that the sections of the monopole bundle can be expressed in the basi…
Geons are particle-like electrovacua. The concept is well-defined, but it still lacks a proper first example. Emerging as such is a self-confined exact 2-parameter pp-wave non-Dirac monopole {\cal G} with primordial Q/r^2 (r\geq r_o) field plus higher moments. {\cal G} has effective mass, independently-scaled NUT-like charge κ|Q|=2r_o as diameter, and spin. {\cal G} {\em cannot} have actual {\sc em} charge $Q$ (by \partial{\cal G}=0), Ricci-flat limits, nor spacetime or Dirac-string singularities, but Dirac's quantization condition holds. {\cal G}/2, as an upgraded `Kerr-Newman' alternative or…
We determine the phase structure of an SU(2) gauge theory with an adjoint scalar on $R^{3}\times S^{1}$ using semiclassical methods. There are two global symmetries: a $Z(2)_{H}$ symmetry associated with the Higgs field and a $Z(2)_{C}$ center symmetry. We analyze the order of the deconfining phase transition when different deformation terms are used. After finding order parameters for the global symmetries, we show that there are four distinct phases: a deconfined phase, a confined phase, a Higgs phase, and a mixed confined phase. The mixed confined phase occurs where one might expect a phase…
We investigate the $SO(5)$ Landau problem in the $SO(4)$ monopole gauge field background by applying the techniques of the non-linear realization of quantum field theory. The $SO(4)$ monopole carries two topological invariants, the second Chern number and a generalized Euler number, specified by the $SU(2)$ monopole and anti-monopole indices, $I_+$ and $I_-$. The energy levels of the $SO(5)$ Landau problem are grouped into $\text{Min}(I_+, I_-) +1$ sectors, each of which holds Landau levels. In the $n$-sector, $N$th Landau level eigenstates constitute the $SO(5)$ irreducible representation wit…
We study the partition functions of BPS vortices and magnetic monopole operators, in gauge theories describing $N$ M2-branes. In particular, we explore two closely related methods to study the Cardy limit of the index on $S^2\times\mathbb{R}$. The first method uses the factorization of this index to vortex partition functions, while the second one uses a continuum approximation for the monopole charge sums. Monopole condensation confines most of the $N^2$ degrees of freedom except $N^{\frac{3}{2}}$ of them, even in the high temperature deconfined phase. The resulting large $N$ free energy stat…
