Chiral non-Abelian vortex molecules in dense QCD

TL;DR

This paper investigates complex vortex structures in dense QCD, revealing that non-Abelian vortices can form molecules with broken axial symmetry, including split vortices and confined configurations, expanding understanding of topological defects in high-density quark matter.

Contribution

It presents the first analysis of vortex solutions without axial symmetry, discovering vortex molecules and split vortices in dense QCD, which were not previously known.

Findings

Broken axial symmetry in vortex solutions

Existence of vortex molecules connected by domain walls

Single vortices can split into chiral non-Abelian vortices

Abstract

The color-flavor locked phase of high density QCD admits non-Abelian vortices, that are superfluid vortices with confined color-magnetic fluxes. Vortex solutions were thus far constructed in an axially symmetric Ansatz with common vortex winding in the left- and right-handed diquark condensates. In this paper, we explore vortex solutions without any Ansatz. In addition to axially symmetric configurations known before, we find that the axial symmetry is broken in certain parameter regions; in one case a single vortex is split into two chiral non-Abelian vortices, i.e. vortices with winding only in the left or right-handed diquark condensate, and they are connected by one or two domain walls forming a non-Abelian vortex molecule. In the other case, a chiral non-Abelian vortex molecule is confined inside a domain wall elongated to spatial infinity.