Baryonic Bound State of Vortices in Multicomponent Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper constructs a baryonic bound state of three vortices in multicomponent superconductors, revealing a Y-shaped junction that indicates genuine three-body interactions similar to baryons in QCD.

Contribution

It introduces a novel three-vortex bound state with a Y-junction structure, highlighting the role of three-body interactions in multicomponent superconductors.

Findings

Y-shaped junction of three domain walls connecting vortices

Genuine three-body interaction in the bound state

Discussion of confinement/deconfinement phase transition

Abstract

We construct a bound state of three 1/3-quantized Josephson coupled vortices in three-component superconductors with intrinsic Josephson couplings, which may be relevant with regard to iron-based superconductors. We find a Y-shaped junction of three domain walls connecting the three vortices, resembling the baryonic bound state of three quarks in QCD. The appearance of the Y-junction (but not a Delta-junction) implies that in both cases of superconductors and QCD, the bound state is described by a genuine three-body interaction (but not by the sum of two-body interactions). We also discuss a confinement/deconfinement phase transition.