Radial excitations of current-carrying vortices

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new class of superconducting cosmic string solutions with radially excited condensates in the Witten model, exploring their stability, potential cosmological implications, and analogies with condensed matter systems.

Contribution

It presents the discovery of radially excited superconducting cosmic strings in the Witten model, highlighting their stability properties and potential observational signatures.

Findings

Existence of radially excited vortex solutions in the Witten model.

Potential macroscopic stability despite microscopic instability.

Implications for cosmic string network evolution and particle emission.

Abstract

We report on the existence of a new type of cosmic string solutions in the Witten model with U(1)xU(1) symmetry. These solutions are superconducting with radially excited condensates that exist for both gauge and ungauged currents. Our results suggest that these new configurations can be macroscopically stable, but microscopically unstable to radial perturbations. Nevertheless, they might have important consequences for the network evolution and particle emission. We discuss these effects and their possible signatures. We also comment on analogies with non-relativistic condensed matter systems where these solutions may be observable.