Linked vortices as baryons in the miscible BEC-Skyrme model

TL;DR

This paper presents a modified BEC-Skyrme model where linked vortices correspond to baryons, demonstrating a topological relation between vortex linking and baryon number, with implications for understanding topological solitons.

Contribution

The paper introduces a variation of the BEC-Skyrme model with a new potential that links vortex configurations to baryon number, supported by a recent topological theorem.

Findings

Vortices are linked exactly B times in the ground state, matching the baryon number.

The model exhibits metastable states with degenerate vortices.

Linked vortices serve as a topological representation of baryons.

Abstract

We introduce a variation of the Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC)-Skyrme model, with an altered potential for miscible BECs that gives rise to two physical vortex strings. In the ground state of each topological sector, the vortices are linked exactly $B$ times, due to a recently formulated theorem, with $B$ being the baryon number of the solution. The model also possesses metastable states, where the vortices are degenerate and do not lend the interpretation of the baryon number as the linking number of the vortices.