arXiv subjects

Muneto Nitta

Publications and source records attributed to Muneto Nitta.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Tying knots in particle physics

Lord Kelvin's pioneering hypothesis that the identity of atoms is knots of vortices of the aether had a profound impact on the fields of mathematics and physics despite being subsequently refuted by experiments. While knot-like excitations emerge in various systems of condensed matter physics, the fundamental constituents of matter have been revealed to be elementary particles such as electrons and quarks, seemingly leaving no room for the appearance of knots in particle physics. Here, we show that knots indeed appear as meta-stable solitons in a realistic extension of the standard model of particle physics that provides the QCD axion and right-handed neutrinos. This result suggests that during the early Universe, a "knot dominated era" may have existed, where knots were a dominant component of the Universe, and this scenario can be tested through gravitational wave observations. Furthermore, we propose that the end of this era involves the collapse of the knots via quantum tunneling, leading to the generation of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. Our findings exhibit the significant role of knots in particle physics and represent a modern version of Kelvin's hypothesis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Spin Statistics and Surgeries of Topological Solitons in QCD Matter in Magnetic Field

The ground state of QCD with two flavors (up and down quarks) at finite baryon density in sufficiently strong magnetic field is in a form of either a chiral soliton lattice(CSL), an array of solitons stacked along the magnetic field, or a domain-wall Skyrmion phase in which Skyrmions are spontaneously created on top of the CSL In the latter, one 2D (baby) Skyrmion in the chiral soliton corresponds to two 3D Skyrmions (baryons) in the bulk. In this paper, we study spin statistics of topological solitons by using the following two methods: the conventional Witten's method by embedding the pion fields of two flavors into those of three flavors with the Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) term, and a more direct method by using the two-flavor WZW term written in terms of a spin structure. We find that a chiral soliton of finite quantized size called a pancake soliton and a hole on a chiral soliton are fermions or bosons depending on odd or even quantizations of their surface areas, respectively, and a domain-wall Skyrmion is a boson. We also propose surgeries of topological solitons: a domain-wall Skyrmion (boson) can be cut into a pancake soliton (fermion) and a hole (fermion), and a chiral soliton without Skyrmions can be cut into a pancake soliton (fermion) and a hole (fermion).

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Neutrino zeromodes on electroweak strings in light of topological insulators

We examine neutrino zeromode solutions on the electroweak $Z$-string and their effect on the stability of the string in the standard model and its extensions. We propose using topological invariants constructed from the momentum (and real) space topology of Green's functions, often used for investigating edge modes in condensed matter physics. We analyze the standard model and then examine type-I and type-II extensions of the neutrino sector as well as their hybrid. Based on this analysis, we also comment on proposals in the literature to stabilize the $Z$-string.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Macroscopic Efimov effect of quantized vortex

The three-body problem, from the chaotic motions of celestial bodies to complex microscopic particle interactions, has always been one of the most foundational yet intricate challenges in physics since its establishment. A key breakthrough in this domain is the Efimov effect, which represents a significant stride in what is now known as Efimov physics. Our study uncovers a macroscopic Efimov effect in a three-component Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) system. Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, it is verified that under certain conditions, three vortices form a bound state, while removing one vortex causes the others to unbind, demonstrating topological characteristics similar to the Borromean rings, hence termed the `vortex Efimov effect', signifying a novel topological phase transition. We propose several experimental approaches to realize this macroscopic Efimov effect, paving new paths not only in many-body physics but also in exploring quantum phase transitions and applications in quantum information.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Isospinning ${\mathbb C}P^2$ solitons

We study stationary rotating topological solitons in (2+1)-dimensional ${\mathbb C}P^2$ non-linear sigma model with a stabilizing potential term. We find families of $U(1)\times U(1)$ symmetric solutions with topological degrees larger than 2, which have two angular frequencies and are labelled by two (one topological and the other non-topological) winding numbers $k_1>k_2$. We discuss properties of these solitons and investigate the domains of their existence.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Baryonic Vortex Phase and Magnetic Field Generation in QCD with Isospin and Baryon Chemical Potentials

We propose a novel baryonic vortex phase in low energy dense QCD with finite baryon and isospin chemical potentials. It is known that the homogeneous charged pion condensate emerges as a ground state at finite isospin chemical potential, and therein arises the Abrikosov vortex lattice with an applied magnetic field. We first demonstrate that a vortex with the same quantized magnetic flux as the conventional Abrikosov vortex, carries a baryon number captured by the third homotopy group of Skyrmions, once we take into account a modulation of the neutral pion inside the vortex core. Such a vortex-Skyrmion state is therefore dubbed the baryonic vortex. We further reveal that when the baryon chemical potential is above a critical value, the baryonic vortex has negative tension measured from the charged pion condensation. It implies that the phase, in which such vortices emerge spontaneously without an external magnetic field, would take over the ground state at high baryon density. Such a new phase contributes to the comprehension of QCD phase diagram and relates to the generation of magnetic fields inside neutron stars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Topological solitons stabilized by a background gauge field and soliton-anti-soliton asymmetry

We study topological lumps supported by the second homotopy group $π_2(S^2) \simeq {\mathbb Z}$ in a gauged $O(3)$ model without any potential term coupled with a (non)dynamical $U(1)$ gauge field. It is known that gauged-lumps are stable with an easy-plane potential term but are unstable to expand if the model has no potential term. In this paper, we find that these gauged lumps without a potential term can be made stable by putting them in a uniform magnetic field, irrespective of whether the gauge field is dynamical or not. In the case of the non-dynamical gauge field, only either of lumps or anti-lumps stably exists depending on the sign of the background magnetic field, and the other is unstable to shrink to be singular. We also construct coaxial multiple lumps whose size and mass exhibit a behaviour of droplets. In the case of the dynamical gauge field, both the lumps and anti-lumps stably exist with different masses; the lighter (heavier) one corresponds to the (un)stable one in the case of the nondynamical gauge field. We find that a lump behaves as a superconducting ring and traps magnetic field in its inside, with the total magnetic field reduced from the background magnetic field.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Non-Abelian chiral soliton lattice in rotating QCD matter: Nambu-Goldstone and excited modes

The ground state of QCD with two flavors at a finite baryon chemical potential under rapid rotation is a chiral soliton lattice (CSL) of the $η$ meson, consisting of a stack of sine-Gordon solitons carrying a baryon number, due to the anomalous coupling of the $η$ meson to the rotation. In a large parameter region, the ground state becomes a non-Abelian CSL, in which due to the neutral pion condensation each $η$ soliton decays into a pair of non-Abelian sine-Gordon solitons carrying $S^2$ moduli originated from Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes localized around it, corresponding to the spontaneously broken vector symmetry SU$(2)_{\rm V}$. There, the $S^2$ modes of neighboring solitons are anti-aligned, and these modes should propagate in the transverse direction of the lattice due to the interaction between the $S^2$ modes of neighboring solitons. In this paper, we calculate excitations including gapless NG modes and excited modes around non-Abelian and Abelian ($η$) CSLs, and find three gapless NG modes with linear dispersion relations (type-A NG modes): two isospinons ($S^2$ modes) and a phonon corresponding to the spontaneously broken vector SU$(2)_{\rm V}$ and translational symmetries around the non-Abelian CSL, respectively, and only a phonon for the Abelian CSL because of the recovering SU$(2)_{\rm V}$. We also find in the deconfined phase that the dispersion relation of the isospinons becomes of the Dirac type, {\it i.~e.~} linear even at large momentum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Phase diagram of QCD matter with magnetic field: domain-wall Skyrmion chain in chiral soliton lattice

QCD matter in strong magnetic field exhibits a rich phase structure. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the chiral Lagrangian for two flavors is accompanied by the Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) term containing an anomalous coupling of the neutral pion $π_0$ to the magnetic field via the chiral anomaly. Due to this term, the ground state is inhomogeneous in the form of either chiral soliton lattice (CSL), an array of solitons in the direction of magnetic field, or domain-wall Skyrmion (DWSk) phase in which Skyrmions supported by $π_3[{\rm SU}(2)] \simeq {\mathbb Z}$ appear inside the solitons as topological lumps supported by $π_2(S^2) \simeq {\mathbb Z}$ in the effective worldvolume theory of the soliton. In this paper, we determine the phase boundary between the CSL and DWSk phases beyond the single-soliton approximation, within the leading order of chiral perturbation theory. To this end, we explore a domain-wall Skyrmion chain in multiple soliton configurations. First, we construct the effective theory of the CSL by the moduli approximation, and obtain the ${\mathbb C}P^1$ model or O(3) model, gauged by a background electromagnetic gauge field, with two kinds of topological terms coming from the WZW term: one is the topological lump charge in 2+1 dimensional worldvolume and the other is a topological term counting the soliton number. Topological lumps in the 2+1 dimensional worldvolume theory are superconducting rings and their sizes are constrained by the flux quantization condition. The negative energy condition of the lumps yields the phase boundary between the CSL and DWSk phases. We find that a large region inside the CSL is occupied by the DWSk phase, and that the CSL remains metastable in the DWSk phase in the vicinity of the phase boundary.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Chiral Magnets from String Theory

Chiral magnets with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction have received quite an intensive focus in condensed matter physics because of the presence of a chiral soliton lattice (CSL), an array of magnetic domain walls and anti-domain walls, and magnetic skyrmions. In this paper, we realize chiral magnets in type-IIA/B string theory by using the Hanany-Witten brane configuration (consisting of D3, D5 and NS5-branes) and the fractional D2 and D6 branes on the Eguchi-Hanson manifold. In the both cases, we put constant non-Abelian magnetic fluxes on flavor D-branes, turning them into magnetized D-branes. The $O(3)$ sigma model with an easy-axis or easy-plane potential and the DM interaction is realized on the worldvolume of the color D-branes. The ground state is the ferromagnetic (uniform) phase and the color D-brane is straight when the DM interaction is small compared with the scalar mass. However, when the DM interaction is larger, the uniform state is no longer stable and the ground state is inhomogeneous: the CSL phases and helimagnetic phase. In this case, the color D-brane is no longer straight but is snaky (zigzag) when the DM interaction is smaller (larger) than a critical value. A magnetic domain wall in the ferromagnetic phase is realized as a kinky D-brane. We further construct magnetic skyrmions in the ferromagnetic phase, realized as D1-branes (fractional D0-branes) in the former (latter) configuration. We see that the host D2-brane is bent around the position of a D0-brane as a magnetic skyrmion. Finally, we construct, in the ferromagnetic phase, domain-wall skyrmions, that is, composite states of a domain wall and skyrmions, and find that the domain wall is no longer flat in the vicinity of the skyrmion. Consequently, a kinky D2-brane worldvolume is pulled or pushed in the vicinity of the D0-brane depending on the sign of the skyrmion topological charge.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Domain-wall Skyrmion phase in a rapidly rotating QCD matter

Based on the chiral perturbation theory at the leading order, we show the presence of a new phase in rapidly rotating QCD matter with two flavors, that is a domain-wall Skyrmion phase. Based on the chiral Lagrangian with a Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) term responsible for the chiral anomaly and chiral vortical effect, it was shown that the ground state is a chiral soliton lattice(CSL) consisting of a stack of $η$-solitons in a high density region under rapid rotation. In a large parameter region, a single $η$-soliton decays into a pair of non-Abelian solitons, each of which carries ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm V}/{\rm U}(1) \simeq {\mathbb C}P^1 \simeq S^2$ moduli as a consequence of the spontaneously broken vector symmetry ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm V}$. In such a non-Abelian CSL, we construct the effective world-volume theory of a single non-Abelian soliton to obtain a $d=2+1$ dimensional ${\mathbb C}P^1$ model with a topological term originated from the WZW term. We show that when the chemical potential is larger than a critical value, a topological lump supported by the second homotopy group $π_2(S^2) \simeq {\mathbb Z}$ has negative energy and is spontaneously created, implying the domain-wall Skyrmion phase. This lump corresponds in the bulk to a Skyrmion supported by the third homotopy group $π_3[ {\rm SU}(2)] \simeq {\mathbb Z}$ carrying a baryon number. This composite state is called a domain-wall Skyrmion, and is stable even in the absence of the Skyrme term. An analytic formula for the effective nucleon mass in this medium is obtained as $4\sqrt{2}πf_πf_η/m_π \sim 1.21$ GeV with the decay constants $f_π$ and $f_η$ of the pions and $η$ meson, respectively, and the pion mass $m_π$, which is surprisingly close to the nucleon mass in the QCD vacuum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Domain-wall skyrmion chain and domain-wall bimerons in chiral magnets

We construct domain-wall skyrmion chains and domain-wall bimerons in chiral magnets with an out-of-plane easy-axis anisotropy and without a Zeeman term coupling to a magnetic field. Domain-wall skyrmions are skyrmions trapped inside a domain wall, they are present in the ferromagnetic (FM) phase of a chiral magnet with an out-of-plane easy-axis anisotropy. In this paper, we explore the stability of domain-wall skyrmions in the FM phase and in a chiral soliton lattice (CSL) or spiral phase, which is a periodic array of domain walls and anti-domain walls arranged in an alternating manner. In the FM phase, the worldline of a domain-wall skyrmion is bent to form a cusp at the position of the skyrmion. We describe such a cusp using both an analytic method and numerical solutions, and find a good agreement between them for small DM interactions. We show that the cusp grows toward the phase boundary with the CSL, and eventually diverges at the boundary. Second, if we put one skyrmion trapped inside a domain wall in a CSL, it decays into a pair of merons by a reconnection of the domain wall and its adjacent anti-domain wall. Third, if we put skyrmions and anti-skyrmions alternately in domain walls and anti-domain walls, respectively such a chain is stable.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Moduli Spaces of Instantons in Flag Manifold Sigma Models -- Vortices in Quiver Gauge Theories

In this paper, we discuss lumps (sigma model instantons) in flag manifold sigma models. In particular, we focus on the moduli space of BPS lumps in general Kähler flag manifold sigma models. Such a Kähler flag manifold, which takes the form $\frac{U(n_1+\cdots+ n_{L+1})}{U(n_1) \times \cdots \times U(n_{L+1})}$, can be realized as a vacuum moduli space of a $U(N_1) \times \cdots \times U(N_L)$ quiver gauged linear sigma model. When the gauge coupling constants are finite, the gauged linear sigma model admits BPS vortex configurations, which reduce to BPS lumps in the low energy effective sigma model in the large gauge coupling limit. We derive an ADHM-like quotient construction of the moduli space of BPS vortices and lumps by generalizing the quotient construction in $U(N)$ gauge theories by Hanany and Tong. As an application, we check the dualities of the 2d models by computing the vortex partition functions using the quotient construction.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Non-Abelian Anyons and Non-Abelian Vortices in Topological Superconductors

Anyons are particles obeying statistics of neither bosons nor fermions. Non-Abelian anyons, whose exchanges are described by a non-Abelian group acting on a set of wave functions, are attracting a great attention because of possible applications to topological quantum computations. Braiding of non-Abelian anyons corresponds to quantum computations. The simplest non-Abelian anyons are Ising anyons which can be realized by Majorana fermions hosted by vortices or edges of topological superconductors, $ν=5/2$ quantum Hall states, spin liquids, and dense quark matter. While Ising anyons are insufficient for universal quantum computations, Fibonacci anyons present in $ν=12/5$ quantum Hall states can be used for universal quantum computations. Yang-Lee anyons are non-unitary counterparts of Fibonacci anyons. Another possibility of non-Abelian anyons (of bosonic origin) is given by vortex anyons, which are constructed from non-Abelian vortices supported by a non-Abelian first homotopy group, relevant for certain nematic liquid crystals, superfluid $^3$He, spinor Bose-Einstein condensates, and high density quark matter. Finally, there is a unique system admitting two types of non-Abelian anyons, Majorana fermions (Ising anyons) and non-Abelian vortex anyons. That is $^3P_2$ superfluids (spin-triplet, $p$-wave paring of neutrons), expected to exist in neutron star interiors as the largest topological quantum matter in our universe.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Dynamical branes on expanding orbifold and complex projective space

We construct some new dynamical $p$-brane solutions to gravity theories on curved backgrounds. We discuss the relations between dynamical branes, a new time-dependent solution on complex projective space $\mathbb{C}{\rm P}^n$ and the static $p$-branes on the orbifold ${\mathbb C}^n/{\mathbb Z}_n$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Composite topological solitons consisting of domain walls, strings, and monopoles in $O(N)$ models

We study various composites of global solitons consisting of domain walls, strings, and monopoles in linear $O(N)$ models with $N=2$ and $3$. Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of the $O(N)$ symmetry down to $O(N-1)$ results in the vacuum manifold $S^{N-1}$, together with a perturbed scalar potential in the presence of a small explicit symmetry breaking (ESB) interaction. The $O(2)$ model is equivalent to the axion model admitting topological global (axion) strings attached by $N_{\rm DW}$ domain walls. We point out for the $N_{\rm DW} = 2$ case that the topological stability of the string with two domain walls is ensured by sequential SSBs $(\mathbb{Z}_2)^2 \to \mathbb{Z}_2 \to 1$, where the first SSB occurs in the vacuum leading to the topological domain wall as a mother soliton, only inside which the second SSB occurs giving rise to a subsequent kink inside the mother wall. From the bulk viewpoint, this kink is identical to a global string as a daughter soliton. This observation can be naturally extended to the $O(3)$ model, where a global monopole as a daughter soliton appears as a kink in a mother string or as a vortex on a mother domain wall, depending on ESB interactions. In the most generic case, the stability of the composite system consisting of the monopole, string, and domain wall is understood by the SSB $(\mathbb{Z}_2)^3 \to (\mathbb{Z}_2)^2 \to \mathbb{Z}_2 \to 1$, in which the first SSB at the vacuum gives rise to the domain wall triggering the second one, so that the daughter string appears as a domain wall inside the mother wall triggering the third SSB, which leads to a granddaughter monopole as a kink inside the daughter vortex. We demonstrate numerical simulations for the dynamical evolution of the composite solitons.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Quasicrystals in QCD

We study the ground state of the low energy dense QCD with the assumption of chiral condensates of quarks. Under an external magnetic field, mesons could form soliton lattices via the chiral anomaly. For such scenarios, we present a unified description of pions and $η$ meson with a $U(2)$ field in the framework of the chiral perturbation theory. Our result shows the ground state is a mixture of the magnetized domain walls formed by neutral pion $π^0$ and $η$ meson when they coexist. The winding number of the ground state would alter according to the strength of the magnetic field. When the magnetic field is strong or the chemical potential is large, the proportion of the mixture is determined by the decay constants and the contributions to the anomalous action of $π^0$ and $η$ meson. The resulting configuration is either a mixed soliton lattice or a quasicrystal which could be dubbed a ``chiral soliton quasicrystal''.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

How baryons appear in low-energy QCD: Domain-wall Skyrmion phase in strong magnetic fields

Low-energy dynamics of QCD can be described by pion degrees of freedom in terms of the chiral perturbation theory(ChPT). A chiral soliton lattice(CSL), an array of solitons, is the ground state due to the chiral anomaly in the presence of a magnetic field larger than a certain critical value at finite density. Here, we show in a model-independent and fully analytic manner (at the leading order of ChPT) that the CSL phase transits to a {\it domain-wall Skyrmion phase} when the chemical potential is larger than the critical value $μ_{\rm c} = 16πf_π^2/3m_π \sim 1.03 \;\; {\rm GeV}$ with the pion's decay constant $f_π$ and mass $m_π$, which can be regarded as the nuclear saturation density. There spontaneously appear stable two-dimensional Skyrmions or lumps on a soliton surface, which can be viewed as three-dimensional Skyrmions carrying even baryon numbers from the bulk despite no Skyrme term. They behave as superconducting rings with persistent currents due to a charged pion condensation, and areas of the rings' interiors are quantized. This phase is in scope of future heavy-ion collider experiments.

hep-ph↗