Vortons in dense quark matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of vortons, superconducting vortex rings, in dense quark matter, considering electromagnetic effects that can stabilize these structures through angular momentum and Coulomb repulsion.

Contribution

It provides a reanalysis of vorton stability in dense quark matter by including electromagnetic effects, which were previously neglected.

Findings

Electromagnetic effects can stabilize vortons.

Vortons can be stabilized by angular momentum.

Coulomb repulsion contributes to vorton stability.

Abstract

At large baryon number density, it is likely that the ground state of QCD is a color-flavor-locked phase with a K0 condensate. The CFL+K0 phase is known to support superconducting vortex strings, and it has been previously suggested that it may also support vortons, which are superconducting vortex rings. We reexamine the question of the stability of vortons, taking into account electromagnetic effects, which make leading-order contributions to vorton dynamics but were not investigated in previous work. We find that current-carrying and electrically charged vortons can be stabilized either by their angular momentum, by Coulomb repulsion, or by a combination of both effects.