Q-ball Scattering on Barriers and Holes in 1 and 2 Spatial Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Q-balls, non-topological solitons, scatter off potential barriers and holes in one and two spatial dimensions, revealing dynamics similar to topological solitons in 1D and differences in 2D.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Q-ball scattering on potential obstructions, highlighting similarities to topological solitons in 1D and exploring unique behaviors in 2D through numerical simulations.

Findings

Q-balls behave like topological solitons in 1D when stable.

Numerical simulations show differences in Q-ball dynamics in 2D.

Potential obstructions significantly affect Q-ball scattering behavior.

Abstract

We discuss various scattering properties of non-topological solitons, Q-balls, on potential obstructions in (1+1) and (2+1) dimensions. These obstructions, barriers and holes, are inserted into the potential of the theory via the coupling parameter, ie \tilde\lambda, that is effective only in a certain region of space. When \tilde\lambda > 1 the obstruction is a barrier and when 0 < \tilde\lambda < 1 the obstruction is a hole. The dynamics of Q-balls on such obstructions in (1+1) dimensions is shown to be very similar to that of topological solitons provided that the Q-balls are stable. In (2+1) dimensions, numerical simulations have shown some differences from the dynamics of topological solitons. We discuss these differences in some detail.