Generalized Skyrmions in QCD and the Electroweak Sector

TL;DR

This paper explores the stability and properties of topological solitons in QCD and electroweak models, analyzing how different Lagrangian terms influence their existence and mass, with implications for future experiments.

Contribution

It extends the analysis of Skyrmion-like solitons to a broader class of models with arbitrary fourth-order derivative terms, identifying conditions for stability and calculating their masses.

Findings

Stable solitons exist only within specific parameter ranges.

In QCD, experimental constraints favor Skyrmion-like solutions.

Electroweak solitons could have masses up to 59 TeV, potentially detectable by future experiments.

Abstract

We discuss the stability and masses of topological solitons in QCD and strongly-interacting models of electroweak symmetry breaking with arbitrary combinations of two inequivalent Lagrangian terms of fourth order in the field spatial derivatives. We find stable solitons for only a restricted range of the ratio of these combinations, in agreement with previous results, and we calculate the corresponding soliton masses. In QCD, the experimental constraints on the fourth-order terms force the soliton to resemble the original Skyrmion solution. However, this is not necessarily the case in strongly-interacting models of electroweak symmetry breaking, in which a non-Skyrmion-like soliton is also possible. This possibility will be constrained by future LHC measurements and dark matter experiments. Current upper bounds on the electroweak soliton mass range between 18 and 59 TeV, which would be reduced to 4.6 to 8.1 TeV with the likely sensitivity of LHC data to the fourth-order electroweak Lagrangian parameters.