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arXiv · 2412.09815

Hydrodynamic and Rayleigh-Plateau instabilities of Q-strings

Qian Chen
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Abstract

As analogues of compact objects, solitons have attracted significant attention. We reveal that cylindrical Q-strings exhibit a dynamical instability to perturbations with wavelengths exceeding a threshold $\lambda>\lambda_{c}$. This instability can destroy the invariance in the cylindrical direction, as a generation mechanism for Q-balls, similar to the formation of droplets. As the interface of Q-strings approaches a thin wall, this long-wavelength instability degenerates into the Rayleigh-Plateau instability with a threshold related only to the geometric radius $\lambda_{c}=2\pi R$. Such results indicate that Q-strings, like black strings, resemble low-viscosity fluids with surface tension.

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Qian Chen. 2024-12-13. Hydrodynamic and Rayleigh-Plateau instabilities of Q-strings. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.211603

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