Toward a path integral quantization of Q-balls

Abstract

Q-balls are time-dependent solitons present in many field theories with unbroken global internal symmetries. To examine the quantized energy spectrum of such objects with Lie groups as internal symmetry groups, we apply group projection techniques to a functional integbral method developed by Dashen, Hasslacher and Neveu. This analysis treats only in the internal symmetry zero modes of such field theories, discussed via their quantum mechanical analogues, since the subtleties of quantization stem largely from the internal symmetry. Examples of U(1) symmetry and SU( n) symmetry on the internal spaces S 1, S 2, and SU( n) are presented.