A detailed study of the stability of vortons

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability and dynamics of gauged vortons, demonstrating that their properties can be accurately predicted by analytical models and simulations, with insights into mode stability and growth rates.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of gauged vorton stability, validating analytical predictions with simulations and energy minimization, and explores curvature effects and mode instabilities.

Findings

Good agreement with thin string approximation

Curvature corrections inversely proportional to radius

Accurate prediction of oscillation frequencies and unstable modes

Abstract

We construct and simulate the dynamics of gauged vortons - circular loops of cosmic string supported by the angular momentum of trapped charge and current and provide additional details on the fully stable vorton that we have previously presented. We find that their existence and dynamical properties can be accurately predicted by an analysis based on infinite, straight superconducting strings if an additional constraint on their phase frequency is satisfied. We show a good quantitative agreement with the thin string approximation (TSA) and provide evidence that curvature corrections are inversely proportional to the vorton radius. This is verified with an energy minimisation algorithm that produces vorton solutions and subsequent axial and full three dimensional evolution codes. We find that we can predict the frequencies of each mode of oscillation, determine which modes are unstable and calculate the growth rate of the unstable modes to a high degree of accuracy.