Related papers: Unstable vortices do not confine
The problem of the stabilization of moduli is discussed within the context of compactified strongly coupled heterotic string theory. It is shown that all geometric, vector bundle and five-brane moduli are completely fixed, within a…
This article provides a concise overview of recent theoretical results concerning the theory of vortons, which are defined to be (centrifugally supported) equilibrium configurations of (current carrying) cosmic string loops. Following a…
Type II orientifolds based on Landau-Ginzburg models are used to describe moduli stabilization for flux compactifications of type II theories from the world-sheet CFT point of view. We show that for certain types of type IIB orientifolds…
We study the role of percolating clusters of center vortices in configurations of an Ising gauge theory in 3D. It is known that low energy features of gauge theories can be described in terms of an ``effective string picture'', and that…
A Nielsen-Olesen vortex usually sits in an environment that expels the flux that is confined to the vortex, so flux is not present both inside and outside. We construct vortices for which this is not true, where the flux carried by the…
We consider compactifications of M-theory and type IIA string theory to four dimensions. For Minkowski space-time, a supergravity no-go theorem forbids flux supported in the internal space. We show how to evade this no-go theorem by…
String theory is the prime candidate for the theory of everything. However, it must be defined in ten dimensions to be consistent. To get 4D physics, the 6 other dimensions should be curled up in a small compact manifold, this procedure is…
Stabilizing all of the modulus fields coming from compactifications of string theory on internal manifolds is one of the outstanding challenges for string cosmology. Here, in a simple example of toroidal compactification, we study the…
We discuss the physical picture of thick vortices as the mechanism responsible for confinement at arbitrarily weak coupling in SU(2) gauge theory. By introducing appropriate variables on the lattice we distinguish between thin, thick and…
In many theories with flat directions of scalar potential, static vortex solutions do not exist for a generic choice of vacuum. In two Euclidean dimensions, we find their substitutes --- constrained instantons consisting of compact core…
A non-relativistic scalar field coupled minimally to electromagnetism supports in the presence of a homogeneous background electric charge density the existence of smooth, finite-energy topologically stable flux vortices. The static…
In order to lift the continuous moduli space of string vacua, non-trivial fluxes may be the essential input. In this talk I summarize aspects of two approaches to compactifications in the presence of fluxes: (i) generalized Scherk-Schwarz…
We present a new vortex solution made of a domain wall compactified into a cylinder and stabilized by the magnetic flux within. When the thickness of the wall is much less than the radius of the vortex some precise results can be obtained,…
We study exact string backgrounds representing a constant magnetic field background in heterotic string theory. These backgrounds are obtained by Kaluza-Klein reduction of a special class of plane wave solutions. For small values of the…
We find that a $Z$-string is stable in a wide range of parameter space of the two Higgs doublet model due to a split into a pair of two topological $Z$-strings with fractional $Z$ fluxes. This configuration, a bound state of the two strings…
We give a gauge-invariant definition of the vortex surface in SU(N) Yang-Mills theory without using the gauge fixing procedure. In this construction, gauge-invariant magnetic monopoles with fractional magnetic charges emerge in the boundary…
We establish the existence of a hidden degree of freedom and the critical states of a spinless electron system in a spatially-correlated random magnetic field with vanishing mean. Whereas the critical states are carried by the zero-field…
First, we give a gauge-independent definition of chromomagnetic monopoles in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory which is derived through a non-Abelian Stokes theorem for the Wilson loop operator. Then we discuss how such magnetic monopoles can give…
In U(1) lattice gauge theory in three spacetime dimensions, the problem of confinement can be studied analytically in a semi-classical approach, in terms of a gas of monopoles with Coulomb-like interactions. In addition, this theory can be…
We construct and simulate the dynamics of gauged vortons - circular loops of cosmic string supported by the angular momentum of trapped charge and current and provide additional details on the fully stable vorton that we have previously…