Vortices and other topological solitons in dense quark matter

Abstract

Abstract Dense quantum chromodynamic matter accommodates various kind of topological solitons such as vortices, domain walls, monopoles, kinks, boojums, and so on. In this review, we discuss various properties of topological solitons in dense quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and their phenomenological implications. Particular emphasis is placed on the topological solitons in the color–flavor-locked (CFL) phase, which exhibits both superfluidity and superconductivity. The properties of topological solitons are discussed in terms of effective field theories such as the Ginzburg–Landau theory, the chiral Lagrangian, or the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equation. The most fundamental string-like topological excitations in the CFL phase are non-Abelian vortices, which are 1/3 quantized superfluid vortices and color magnetic flux tubes. These vortices are created at a phase transition by the Kibble–Zurek mechanism or when the CFL phase is realized in compact stars, which rotate rapidly. The interaction between vortices is found to be repulsive and consequently a vortex lattice is formed in rotating CFL matter. Bosonic and fermionic zero-energy modes are trapped in the core of a non-Abelian vortex and propagate along it as gapless excitations. The former consists of translational zero modes (a Kelvin mode) with a quadratic dispersion and ${\mathbb {C}}P^2$ Nambu–Goldstone gapless modes with a linear dispersion, associated with the CFL symmetry spontaneously broken in the core of a vortex, while the latter is Majorana fermion zero modes belonging to the triplet of the symmetry remaining in the core of a vortex. The low-energy effective theory of the bosonic zero modes is constructed as a non-relativistic free complex scalar field and a relativistic ${\mathbb {C}}P^2$ model in 1+1 dimensions. The effects of strange quark mass, electromagnetic interactions, and non-perturbative quantum corrections are taken into account in the ${\mathbb {C}}P^2$ effective theory. Various topological objects associated with non-Abelian vortices are studied; colorful boojums at the CFL interface, the quantum color magnetic monopole confined by vortices, which supports the notion of quark–hadron duality, and Yang–Mills instantons inside a non-Abelian vortex as lumps are discussed. The interactions between a non-Abelian vortex and quasiparticles such as phonons, gluons, mesons, and photons are studied. As a consequence of the interaction with photons, a vortex lattice behaves as a cosmic polarizer. As a remarkable consequence of Majorana fermion zero modes, non-Abelian vortices are shown to behave as a novel kind of non-Abelian anyon. In the order parameters of chiral symmetry breaking, we discuss fractional and integer axial domain walls, Abelian and non-Abelian axial vortices, axial wall–vortex composites, and Skyrmions.