Skyrmed Monopoles

TL;DR

This paper explores how adding a Skyrme term to the BPS Yang-Mills-Higgs model results in stable multi-monopole bound states with specific symmetries, expanding understanding of monopole configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a modified monopole model with a Skyrme term and numerically demonstrates the existence of stable multi-monopole bound states with axial and Platonic symmetries.

Findings

Multi-monopole bound states are stabilized by the Skyrme term.

Axially symmetric monopoles are energetically favored over other symmetries.

Numerical solutions up to charge five reveal specific symmetry patterns.

Abstract

We investigate multi-monopole solutions of a modified version of the BPS Yang-Mills-Higgs model in which a term quartic in the covariant derivatives of the Higgs field (a Skyrme term) is included in the Lagrangian. Using numerical methods we find that this modification leads to multi-monopole bound states. We compute axially symmetric monopoles up to charge five and also monopoles with Platonic symmetry for charges three, four and five. The numerical evidence suggests that, in contrast to Skyrmions, the minimal energy Skyrmed monopoles are axially symmetric.