Abelian Vortices Research Articles

About gravitational radiation of semi local strings with non compact internal modes

The present work studies the gravitational radiation of a non abelian vortex with a non compact internal moduli describing its excitations. This situation may be realised by semi-local supersymmetric vortices [1]–[8], although supersymmetry is not necessary for this to happen. In the situation considered along this work, the internal space has infinite volume, and a largely energetic perturbation propagates along the object, even though the vortex line may not be moving. A specific configuration is presented, in which the internal space is the resolved conifold with its Ricci flat metric. The curious feature about it is that it corresponds to a static vortex, that is, the perturbation is only due to the internal modes. Even being static, the emission of gravitational radiation is in the present case of considerable order. This suggest that the presence of slowly moving objects that can emit a large amount of gravitational radiation is a hint of non abelianity.

Neumann boundary condition for Abelian BPS vortices

We study abelian BPS vortices on a surface S with boundary, which satisfy the Neumann boundary condition on the norm of the scalar field, or equivalently, that the current along the boundary vanishes. These vortices have quantised magnetic flux and quantised energy. Existence of such vortices is manifest when S is the quotient by a reflection of a smooth surface without boundary, for example a hemisphere. The N-vortex moduli space then admits an interesting stratification, depending on the number of vortices in the interior of S and the number of half-vortices on the boundary.

Elizabethan vortices *

Radial solutions to the elliptic Sinh–Gordon and Tzitzeica equations can be interpreted as Abelian vortices on certain surfaces of revolution. These surfaces have a conical excess angle at infinity (in a way which makes them similar to Elizabethan ruff collars). While they cannot be embedded in the Euclidean 3-space, we will show that they can be globally embedded in the hyperbolic space. The existence of these hyperbolic embeddings follows from the asymptotic analysis of a Painlevé III oridinary differential dquation (ODE).

Cartan connections and integrable vortex equations

We demonstrate that integrable abelian vortex equations on constant curvature Riemann surfaces can be reinterpreted as flat non-abelian Cartan connections. By lifting to three dimensional group manifolds we find higher dimensional analogues of vortices. These vortex configurations are also encoded in a Cartan connection. We give examples of different types of vortex that can be interpreted this way, and compare and contrast this Cartan representation of a vortex with the symmetric instanton representation.

Vortex counting and the quantum Hall effect

We provide evidence for conjectural dualities between nonrelativistic Chern-Simons-matter theories and theories of (fractional, nonAbelian) quantum Hall fluids in 2 + 1 dimensions. At low temperatures, the dynamics of nonrelativistic Chern-Simons-matter theories can be described in terms of a nonrelativistic quantum mechanics of vortices. At critical coupling, this may be solved by geometric quantisation of the vortex moduli space. Using localisation techniques, we compute the Euler characteristic χ( mathcal{L} λ) of an arbitrary power λ of a quantum line bundle mathcal{L} on the moduli space of vortices in U(Nc) gauge theory with Nf fundamental scalar flavours on an arbitrary closed Riemann surface. We conjecture that this is equal to the dimension of the Hilbert space of vortex states when the area of the metric on the spatial surface is sufficiently large. We find that the vortices in theories with Nc = Nf = λ behave as fermions in the lowest nonAbelian Landau level, with strikingly simple quantum degeneracy. More generally, we find evidence that the quantum vortices may be regarded as composite objects, made of dual anyons. We comment on potential links between the dualities and three-dimensional mirror symmetry. We also compute the expected degeneracy of local Abelian vortices on the Ω-deformed sphere, finding it to be a q-analog of the undeformed case.

From vortices to instantons on the Euclidean Schwarzschild manifold

The first irreducible solution of the $\mathrm{SU} (2)$ self-duality equations on the Euclidean Schwarzschild (ES) manifold was found by Charap and Duff in 1977, only 2 years later than the famous BPST instantons on $\mathbb{R}^4$ were discovered. While soon after, in 1978, the ADHM construction gave a complete description of the moduli spaces of instantons on $\mathbb{R}^4$, the case of the Euclidean Schwarzschild manifold has resisted many efforts for the past 40 years. By exploring a correspondence between the planar Abelian vortices and spherically symmetric instantons on ES, we obtain: a complete description of a connected component of the moduli space of unit energy $\mathrm{SU} (2)$ instantons; new examples of instantons with non-integer energy (and non-trivial holonomy at infinity); a complete classification of finite energy, spherically symmetric, $\mathrm{SU} (2)$ instantons. As opposed to the previously known solutions, the generic instanton coming from our construction is not invariant under the full isometry group, in particular not static. Hence disproving a conjecture of Tekin.

Chiral non-Abelian vortices and their confinement in three flavor dense QCD

We find chiral non-Abelian vortices having windings only in one of the diquark condensations of left-handed and right-handed quarks in the color-flavor locked phase of dense QCD. They are the minimum vortices carrying half color magnetic fluxes of those of non-Abelian semi-superfluid vortices (color magnetic flux tubes) and 1/6 quantized superfluid circulations of Abelian superfluid vortices. These vortices carry ${\mathbb C}P^2$ orientational moduli in the internal space corresponding to their fluxes. The ${\mathbb C}P^2$ moduli of two chiral non-Abelian vortices with chiralities opposite to each other are energetically favored to be aligned while those of a vortex and anti-vortex to be orthogonal, and then these vortices attract each other. They are attached by chiral domain walls in the presence of the mass and axial anomaly terms explicitly breaking axial and chiral symmetries. We numerically show that two chiral non-Abelian vortices with chiralities opposite to each other are connected by a chiral domain wall, consisting a mesonic bound state which is nothing but a non-Abelian semi-superfluid vortex. We also show that Abelian and non-Abelian axial vortices attached by chiral domain walls are all unstable to decay into a set of chiral non-Abelian vortices. Furthermore, we find that chiral non-Abelian vortices exhibit unique features: one is the so-called topological obstruction implying that unbroken symmetry generators in the bulk are not defined globally around the vortices, and the other is color non-singlet Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phases implying that quarks encircling these vortices can detect the colors of magnetic fluxes of them at infinite distances.

Dynamics of global and local vortices with orientational moduli

The dynamics of both global and local vortices with non-Abelian orientational moduli is investigated in detail. Head-on collisions of these vortices are numerically simulated for parallel, anti-parallel and orthogonal internal orientations where we find interesting dynamics of the orientational moduli. A detailed study of the inter-vortex force is provided and a phase diagram separating Abelian and non-Abelian vortex types is constructed. Some results on scatterings with non-zero impact parameter and multi-vortex collisions are included.

Non-Abelian Alice strings in two-flavor dense QCD

Quark-hadron continuity with two-flavor quarks that was proposed recently connects hadronic matter with neutron $^3P_2$ superfluidity and two-flavor dense quark matter. This two-flavor dense quark phase consists of the coexistence of the 2SC condensates and the $P$-wave diquark condensates of $d$-quarks, which gives rise to color superconductivity as well as superfluidity. We classify vortices in this phase. The most stable vortices are what we call the non-Abelian Alice strings, which are superfluid vortices with non-Abelian color magnetic fluxes therein, exhibiting so-called topological obstruction, or a non-Abelian generalization of the Alice property. We show that a single Abelian superfluid vortex is unstable against decay into three non-Abelian Alice strings. We discover that a non-Abelian Alice string carries orientational moduli of the real projective space $\mathbb{R}P^2$ corresponding to the color flux therein in the presence of the $P$-wave condensates alone. We calculate Aharanov-Bohm (AB) phases around the non-Abelian Alice string, and find that the 2SC condensates and string's orientational moduli must be aligned with each other because of single-valuedness of the AB phases of the 2SC condensates.

Quantizing a solitonic string

Quite often the zero mode dynamics on solitonic vortices are described by a non-conformal effective world-sheet sigma model (WSSM). We address the problem of solitonic string quantization in this case. As well-known, only critical strings with conformal WSSMs are self-consistent in ultra-violet (UV) domain. Thus, we look for the appropriate UV completion of the low-energy non-conformal WSSM. We argue that for the solitonic strings supported in well-defined bulk theories the UV complete WSSM has a UV fixed point which can be used for string quantization. As an example, we consider BPS non- Abelian vortices supported by four-dimensional (4D) mathcal{N} = 2 SQCD with the gauge group U(N) and Nf quark multiplets where Nf≥ N. In addition to translational moduli the non-Abelian vortex under consideration carries orientational and size moduli. Their low- energy dynamics are described by a two-dimensional mathcal{N} = (2, 2) supersymmetric weighted model, namely, \U0001d54eℂℙ (N, Nf− N ). Given our UV completion of this WSSM we find its UV fixed point. The latter defines a superconformal WSSM. We observe two cases in which this conformal WSSM, combined with the free theory for four translational moduli, has ten-dimensional target space required for superstrings to be critical.

The holographic non-abelian vortex

We study a fully back-reacted non-abelian vortex solution in an extension of the holographic superconductor setup. The thermodynamic properties of the vortex are computed. We show that, in some regime of parameters, the non-abelian vortex solution has a lower free energy than a competing abelian vortex solution. The solution is dual to a finite-temperature perturbed conformal field theory with a topological defect, on which operators related to the Goldstone modes of a spontaneously broken symmetry are localized. We compute numerically the retarded Green function of these operators and we find, in the classical approximation in the bulk, a gapless ℂℙ1 excitation on the vortex world line.

Adiabatic limits and Kazdan–Warner equations

We study the limiting behaviour of solutions to abelian vortex equations when the volume of the underlying Riemann surface grows to infinity. We prove that the solutions converge smoothly away from finitely many points. The proof relies on a priori estimates for functions satisfying generalised Kazdan-Warner equations. We relate our results to the work of Hong, Jost, and Struwe on classical vortices, and that of Haydys and Walpuski on the Seiberg-Witten equations with multiple spinors.

Vortices, Painlevé integrability and projective geometry

The first half of the thesis concerns Abelian vortices and Yang-Mills (YM) theory. It is proved that the 5 types of vortices recently proposed by Manton are symmetry reductions of (A)SDYM equations with suitable gauge groups and symmetry groups acting as isometries in a 4-manifold. As a consequence, the twistor integrability results of such vortices can be derived. It is presented a natural definition of their kinetic energy and thus the metric of the moduli space was calculated by the Samols' localisation method. Then, a modified version of the Abelian-Higgs model is proposed in such a way that spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Bogomolny argument still hold. The Painleve test, when applied to its soliton equations, reveals a complete list of its integrable cases. The corresponding solutions are given in terms of third Painleve transcendents and can be interpreted as original vortices on surfaces with conical singularity. The last two chapters present the following results in projective differential geometry and Hamiltonians of hydrodynamic-type (HT) systems. It is shown that the projective structures defined by the Painleve equations are not metrisable unless either the corresponding equations admit first integrals quadratic in first derivatives or they define projectively flat structures. The corresponding first integrals can be derived from Killing vectors associated to the metrics that solve the metrisability problem. Secondly, it is given a complete set of necessary and sufficient conditions for an arbitrary affine connection in 2D to admit, locally, 0, 1, 2 or 3 Killing forms. These conditions are tensorial and simpler than the ones in previous literature. By defining suitable affine connections, it is shown that the problem of existence of Killing forms is equivalent to the conditions of the existence of Hamiltonian structures for HT systems of two components.

Collision dynamics of two-dimensional non-Abelian vortices

We study computationally the collision dynamics of vortices in a two-dimensional spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate. In contrast to Abelian vortex pairs, which annihilate or pass through each other, we observe non-Abelian vortex pairs to undergo rungihilation - an event that converts the colliding vortices into a rung vortex. The resulting rung defect subsequently decays to another pair of non-Abelian vortices of different type, accompanied by a magnetization reversal.

Evolution of semilocal string networks. II. Velocity estimators

We continue a comprehensive numerical study of semilocal string networks and their cosmological evolution. These can be thought of as hybrid networks comprised of (non-topological) string segments, whose core structure is similar to that of Abelian Higgs vortices, and whose ends have long--range interactions and behaviour similar to that of global monopoles. Our study provides further evidence of a linear scaling regime, already reported in previous studies, for the typical length scale and velocity of the network. We introduce a new algorithm to identify the position of the segment cores. This allows us to determine the length and velocity of each individual segment and follow their evolution in time. We study the statistical distribution of segment lengths and velocities for radiation- and matter-dominated evolution in the regime where the strings are stable. Our segment detection algorithm gives higher length values than previous studies based on indirect detection methods. The statistical distribution shows no evidence of (anti)correlation between the speed and the length of the segments.

Gravitating Vortices, Cosmic Strings, and the Kähler–Yang–Mills Equations

In this paper we construct new solutions of the Kahler–Yang–Mills equations, by applying dimensional reduction methods to the product of the complex projective line with a compact Riemann surface. The resulting equations, which we call gravitating vortex equations, describe abelian vortices on the Riemann surface with back reaction of the metric. As a particular case of these gravitating vortices on the Riemann sphere we find solutions of the Einstein–Bogomol’nyi equations, which physically correspond to Nielsen–Olesen cosmic strings in the Bogomol’nyi phase. We use this to provide a Geometric Invariant Theory interpretation of an existence result by Y. Yang for the Einstein–Bogomol’nyi equations, applying a criterion due to G. Szekelyhidi.

Classifying BPS states in supersymmetric gauge theories coupled to higher derivative chiral models

We study N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories coupled with higher derivative chiral models in four dimensions in the off-shell superfield formalism. We solve the equation of motion for the auxiliary fields and find two distinct on-shell structures of the Lagrangian that we call the canonical and non-canonical branches characterized by zero and non-zero auxiliary fields, respectively. We classify BPS states of the models in Minkowski and Euclidean spaces. In Minkowski space, we find Abelian and non-Abelian vortices, vortex-lumps (or gauged lumps with fractional lump charges) as 1/2 BPS states in the canonical branch and higher derivative generalization of vortices and vortex-(BPS)baby Skyrmions (or gauged BPS baby Skyrmions with fractional baby Skyrme charges) as 1/4 BPS states in the non-canonical branch. In four-dimensional Euclidean space, we find Yang-Mills instantons trapped inside a non-Abelian vortex, intersecting vortices, intersecting vortex-(BPS)baby Skyrmions as 1/4 BPS states in the canonical branch but no BPS states in the non-canonical branch other than those in the Minkowski space.

RICCI FLOWS ON SURFACES RELATED TO THE EINSTEIN WEYL AND ABELIAN VORTEX EQUATIONS

AbstractThere are described equations for a pair comprising a Riemannian metric and a Killing field on a surface that contain as special cases the Einstein Weyl equations (in the sense of D. Calderbank) and a real version of a special case of the Abelian vortex equations, and it is shown that the property that a metric solve these equations is preserved by the Ricci flow. The equations are solved explicitly, and among the metrics obtained are all steady gradient Ricci solitons (e.g. the cigar soliton) and the sausage metric; there are found other examples of eternal, ancient, and immortal Ricci flows, as well as some Ricci flows with conical singularities.

Domain walls and vortices in chiral symmetry breaking

We study domain walls and vortices in chiral symmetry breaking in a QCD-like theory with N flavors in the chiral limit. If the axial anomaly is absent, there exist stable Abelian axial vortices winding around the spontaneously broken U(1)_A symmetry and non-Abelian axial vortices winding around both the U(1)_A and non-Abelian SU(N) chiral symmetries. In the presence of the axial anomaly term, metastable domain walls are present and Abelian axial vortices must be attached by N domain walls, forming domain wall junctions. We show that a domain wall junction decays into N non-Abelian vortices attached by domain walls, implying its metastability. We also show that domain walls decay through the quantum tunneling by creating a hole bounded by a closed non-Abelian vortex.

Vortices as Degenerate Metrics

We note that the Bogomolny equation for abelian vortices is precisely the condition for invariance of the Hermitian–Einstein equation under a degenerate conformal transformation. This leads to a natural interpretation of vortices as degenerate Hermitian metrics that satisfy a certain curvature equation. Using this viewpoint, we rephrase standard results about vortices and make new observations. We note the existence of a conceptually simple, non-linear rule for superposing vortex solutions, and we describe the natural behaviour of the L 2-metric on the moduli space upon restriction to a class of submanifolds.