Related papers: Electroweak Strings and Fermions
We discuss massless and massive neutrino zero modes in the background of an electroweak string. We argue that the eventual absence of the neutrino zero mode implies the existence of topologically stable strings where the required…
In the standard model, stabilization of a classically unstable cosmic string may occur through the quantum fluctuations of a heavy fermion doublet. We review numerical results from a semiclassical expansion in a reduced version of the…
The effect of perturbations of electroweak strings on quark zero modes is studied in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions. As first discovered by Naculich, it is found that the bosonic perturbations that destabilize the string give a mass to the zero…
We use large-scale numerical simulations to study the formation and evolution of non-topological defects in a generalized electroweak phase transition described by the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg model without fermions. Such defects include…
We study the quantum stabilization of a cosmic string by a heavy fermion doublet in a reduced version of the standard model. We show that charged strings, obtained by populating fermionic bound state levels, become stable if the…
Vortex solutions in the two Higgs doublet electroweak model are constructed, and their stability to small perturbations is studied. The most general perturbation is decomposed into angular momentum modes, the least stable mode is…
We present a systematic determination of the order hbar fermionic energy shift when an electroweak string is perturbed. We show that the combined effect of zero modes, bound states and continuum states is to lower the total fermionic ground…
Cosmic strings in realistic particle physics models have fermion zero modes in the string core. Such zero modes change the underlying cosmology; for example, the string can carry a current. We consider the stability of fermion zero modes to…
The Dirac equations for leptons and quarks in the background of an electroweak $Z-$string have zero mode solutions. If two loops of electroweak string are linked, the zero modes on one of the loops interacts with the other loop via an…
I describe the string solutions in the standard electroweak model and argue that they may be stabilized by quark, lepton or other bound states. I then reinterpret the sphaleron in terms of electroweak strings and show that it can be viewed…
We investigate the instabilities of low winding number electroweak strings using standard numerical techniques of linear algebra. For strings of unit winding we are able to confirm and extend existing calculations of the unstable region in…
Classical solutions describing strings endowed with an electric charge and carrying a constant electromagnetic current are constructed within the bosonic sector of the Electroweak Theory. For any given ratio of the Higgs boson mass to W…
The stability of fermionic charge carriers on cosmic strings is considered. We show that neutral fermion currents in cosmic strings are always chiral or time-like, in contrast to the case of bosonic currents. The spectrum of bound states on…
In the minimal standard model we discuss stability of the Z-string configuration, which includes the zero mode connected with the broken gauge symmetry. The zero mode induces charge and current on the string and gives backreaction to the…
We investigate the standard model in a cosmic string background and show that the electroweak symmetry is partially restored. For a range of parameters the electroweak Higgs field can wind in this region, producing an electroweak string…
Topological objects resulting from symmetry breakdown may be either stable or metastable depending on the pattern of symmetry breaking. However, if they acquire zero-energy modes of fermions, and in the process acquire non-integer fermionic…
We study the axion strings with the electroweak gauge flux in the DFSZ axion model and show that these strings, called the electroweak axion strings, can exhibit superconductivity without fermionic zero modes. We construct three types of…
The standard electroweak theory admits a string solution, the Z string, in which only the electrically neutral Higgs fields are excited. This solution is unstable at zero temperature: Z strings decay by exciting charged Higgs modes. In the…
We investigate the stability of superconducting strings as bound states of strings and fermion zero modes at both the classical and quantum levels. The dynamics of these superconducting strings can result in a stable configuration, known as…
We study the dynamical stability of the BTZ black string against fermonic and gravitational perturbations. The BTZ black string is not always stable against these perturbations. There exist threshold values for $m^2$ related to the…