Pipelike current-carrying vortices in two-component condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates semilocal vortices in a two-component scalar field model, revealing pipelike magnetic structures with layered electric currents, contributing to understanding vortex configurations in gauge theories.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of pipelike vortex solutions with layered magnetic and electric currents in a two-component scalar field model.

Findings

Vortices with high winding numbers have nested pipelike structures.

Magnetic fields are concentrated away from the vortex center, forming a magnetic pipe.

Longitudinal electric currents flow in opposite directions within layered pipes.

Abstract

We study straight vortices with global longitudinal currents in the Bogomol'ny limit of the Abelian Higgs model with two charged scalar fields. The model possesses global SU(2) and local electromagnetic U(1) symmetries spontaneously broken to global U(1) group, and corresponds to a semilocal limit of the standard electroweak model. We show that the contribution of the global SU(2) current to the vortex energy is proportional to the total current squared. Locally, these vortices carry also longitudinal electromagnetic currents, while the total electromagnetic current flowing through a transverse section of the vortex is always zero. The vortices with high winding numbers have, in general, a nested pipelike structure. The magnetic field of the vortex is concentrated at a certain distance from the geometric center of the vortex, thus resembling a "pipe." This magnetic pipe is layered between two electrically charged pipes that carry longitudinal electric currents in opposite directions.