Vacuum currents induced by a magnetic flux around a cosmic string with finite core

Abstract

We evaluate the Hadamard function and the vacuum expectation value of the current density for a massive complex scalar field in the generalized geometry of a straight cosmic string with a finite core enclosing an arbitrary distributed magnetic flux along the string axis. For the interior geometry, a general cylindrically symmetric static metric tensor is used with finite support. In the region outside the core, both the Hadamard function and the current density are decomposed into the idealized zero-thickness cosmic string and core-induced contributions. The only nonzero component corresponds to the azimuthal current. The zero-thickness part of the latter is a periodic function of the magnetic flux inside the core, with the period equal to the quantum flux. As a consequence of the direct interaction of the quantum field with the magnetic field inside the penetrable core, the core-induced contribution, in general, is not a periodic function of the flux. In addition, the vacuum current, in general, is not a monotonic function of the distance from the string and may change the sign. For a general model of the core interior, we also evaluate the magnetic fields generated by the vacuum current. As applications of the general results, we have considered an impenetrable core modeled by Robin boundary condition, a core with the Minkowski-like interior and a core with a constant positive curvature space. Various exactly solvable distributions of the magnetic flux are discussed.