Fermions and vortex solutions in Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories

Abstract

The interaction of fermions with an extended vortex solution of the Higgs model is investigated. It is found that this interaction has a long-range inverse-square tail. It is caused by the coupling of the fermion angular momentum with the vortex gauge field itself. The fermion-vortex bound states present at the threshold and the fermion-vortex scattering are studied. The scattering phase shifts and the Jost functions are obtained for large and small fermion momenta as well as the low-energy cross section which diverges at zero momentum. The quantum field theory in the one-vortex sectors is developed. It is found that, in the presence of fermions, a vortex with an even (odd) number of flux quanta has a half-integer (integer) fermionic number. It follows that a two-quantum vortex is stable. Finally, the stable vortex solution of an SU(2) Higgs model is investigated. The appropriate ansatz for the field is given and radial equations are discussed. It is shown that the interaction of a vortex with any nonsinglet particle has a long-range inverse-square tail.