Gravitating Monopole--Antimonopole Chains and Vortex Rings

We construct monopole-antimonopole chain and vortex solutions in Yang-Mills-Higgs theory coupled to Einstein gravity. The solutions are static, axially symmetric and asymptotically flat. They are characterized by two integers (m,n) where m is related to the polar angle and n to the azimuthal angle. Solutions with n=1 and n=2 correspond to chains of m monopoles and antimonopoles. Here the Higgs field vanishes at m isolated points along the symmetry axis. Larger values of n give rise to vortex solutions, where the Higgs field vanishes on one or more rings, centered around the symmetry axis. When gravity is coupled to the flat space solutions, a branch of gravitating monopole-antimonopole chain or vortex solutions arises, and merges at a maximal value of the coupling constant with a second branch of solutions. This upper branch has no flat space limit. Instead in the limit of vanishing coupling constant it either connects to a Bartnik-McKinnon or generalized Bartnik-McKinnon solution, or, for m>4, n>4, it connects to a new Einstein-Yang-Mills solution. In this latter case further branches of solutions appear. For small values of the coupling constant on the upper branches, the solutions correspond to composite systems, consisting of a scaled inner Einstein-Yang-Mills solution and an outer Yang-Mills-Higgs solution.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, uses revte

Fluctons

From the perspective of topological field theory we explore the physics beyond instantons. We propose the fluctons as nonperturbative topological fluctuations of vacuum, from which the self-dual domain of instantons is attained as a particular case. Invoking the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, we determine the dimension of the corresponding flucton moduli space, which gives the number of degrees of freedom of the fluctons. An important consequence of these results is that the topological phases of vacuum in non-Abelian gauge theories are not necessarily associated with self-dual fields, but only with smooth fields. Fluctons in different scenarios are considered, the basic aspects of the quantum mechanical amplitude for fluctons are discussed, and the case of gravity is discussed briefly

Small coupling limit and multiple solutions to the Dirichlet Problem for Yang Mills connections in 4 dimensions - Part I

In this paper (Part I) and its sequels (Part II and Part III), we analyze the structure of the space of solutions to the epsilon-Dirichlet problem for the Yang-Mills equations on the 4-dimensional disk, for small values of the coupling constant epsilon. These are in one-to-one correspondence with solutions to the Dirichlet problem for the Yang Mills equations, for small boundary data. We prove the existence of multiple solutions, and, in particular, non minimal ones, and establish a Morse Theory for this non-compact variational problem. In part I, we describe the problem, state the main theorems and do the first part of the proof. This consists in transforming the problem into a finite dimensional problem, by seeking solutions that are approximated by the connected sum of a minimal solution with an instanton, plus a correction term due to the boundary. An auxiliary equation is introduced that allows us to solve the problem orthogonally to the tangent space to the space of approximate solutions. In Part II, the finite dimensional problem is solved via the Ljusternik-Schirelman theory, and the existence proofs are completed. In Part III, we prove that the space of gauge equivalence classes of Sobolev connections with prescribed boundary value is a smooth manifold, as well as some technical lemmas used in Part I. The methods employed still work when the 4-dimensional disk is replaced by a more general compact manifold with boundary, and SU(2) is replaced by any compact Lie group

Localization and Diagonalization: A review of functional integral techniques for low-dimensional gauge theories and topological field theories

We review localization techniques for functional integrals which have recently been used to perform calculations in and gain insight into the structure of certain topological field theories and low-dimensional gauge theories. These are the functional integral counterparts of the Mathai-Quillen formalism, the Duistermaat-Heckman theorem, and the Weyl integral formula respectively. In each case, we first introduce the necessary mathematical background (Euler classes of vector bundles, equivariant cohomology, topology of Lie groups), and describe the finite dimensional integration formulae. We then discuss some applications to path integrals and give an overview of the relevant literature. The applications we deal with include supersymmetric quantum mechanics, cohomological field theories, phase space path integrals, and two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 72 pages (60 A4 pages), LaTeX (to appear in the Journal of Mathematical Physics Special Issue on Functional Integration (May 1995)

Laplacian modes probing gauge fields

We show that low-lying eigenmodes of the Laplace operator are suitable to represent properties of the underlying SU(2) lattice configurations. We study this for the case of finite temperature background fields, yet in the confinement phase. For calorons as classical solutions put on the lattice, the lowest mode localizes one of the constituent monopoles by a maximum and the other one by a minimum, respectively. We introduce adjustable phase boundary conditions in the time direction, under which the role of the monopoles in the mode localization is interchanged. Similar hopping phenomena are observed for thermalized configurations. We also investigate periodic and antiperiodic modes of the adjoint Laplacian for comparison. In the second part we introduce a new Fourier-like low-pass filter method. It provides link variables by truncating a sum involving the Laplacian eigenmodes. The filter not only reproduces classical structures, but also preserves the confining potential for thermalized ensembles. We give a first characterization of the structures emerging from this procedure.Comment: 43 pages, 26 figure

Expansion in the distance parameter for two vortices close together

Static vortices close together are studied for two different models in 2-dimen- sional Euclidean space. In a simple model for one complex field an expansion in the parameters describing the relative position of two vortices can be given in terms of trigonometric and exponential functions. The results are then compared to those of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of a superconductor in a magnetic field at the point between type-I and type-II superconductivity. For the angular dependence a similar pattern emerges in both models. The differences for the radial functions are studied up to third order.Comment: 14 pages, Late

On field theory quantization around instantons

With the perspective of looking for experimentally detectable physical applications of the so-called topological embedding, a procedure recently proposed by the author for quantizing a field theory around a non-discrete space of classical minima (instantons, for example), the physical implications are discussed in a ``theoretical'' framework, the ideas are collected in a simple logical scheme and the topological version of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity is solved in the intermediate situation between type I and type II superconductors.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, LaTe

Telescopic actions

A group action H on X is called "telescopic" if for any finitely presented group G, there exists a subgroup H' in H such that G is isomorphic to the fundamental group of X/H'. We construct examples of telescopic actions on some CAT[-1] spaces, in particular on 3 and 4-dimensional hyperbolic spaces. As applications we give new proofs of the following statements: (1) Aitchison's theorem: Every finitely presented group G can appear as the fundamental group of M/J, where M is a compact 3-manifold and J is an involution which has only isolated fixed points; (2) Taubes' theorem: Every finitely presented group G can appear as the fundamental group of a compact complex 3-manifold.Comment: +higher dimension

Only hybrid anyons can exist in broken symmetry phase of nonrelativistic U(1)2U(1)^{2} Chern-Simons theory

We present two examples of parity-invariant $[U(1)]^{2}$ Chern-Simons-Higgs models with spontaneously broken symmetry. The models possess topological vortex excitations. It is argued that the smallest possible flux quanta are composites of one quantum of each type $(1,1)$. These hybrid anyons will dominate the statistical properties near the ground state. We analyse their statistical interactions and find out that unlike in the case of Jackiw-Pi solitons there is short range magnetic interaction which can lead to formation of bound states of hybrid anyons. In addition to mutual interactions they possess internal structure which can lead upon quantisation to discrete spectrum of energy levels.Comment: 10 pages in plain Latex (one argument added, version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D(Rapid Communications)