An extended model for monopole catalysis of nucleon decay

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new theoretical model for monopole catalysis of nucleon decay, featuring only photon and pion fields, and explores classical solutions and metastable states relevant to baryon number violation.

Contribution

The model uniquely incorporates only light fields and admits classical monopole and Skyrmion solutions, providing new insights into monopole-induced nucleon decay mechanisms.

Findings

Skyrmion loses almost all its mass during monopole interaction

Existence of metastable monopole-Skyrmion bound states with energy barriers

Complete Skyrmion disappearance possible in scattering scenarios

Abstract

A new model for monopole catalysis of nucleon decay is proposed. Unlike in the earlier one, the only light fields in this model are the photon and Skyrme (pion) field. The model admits the 't Hooft- Polyakov monopole and Skyrmion as classical solutions, while baryon number non-conservation occurs through an anomaly involving an intermediate mass axial vector field resembling W- and Z-bosons. By considering spherically symmetric monopole-Skyrmion configurations, we find that the Skyrmion looses essentially all its mass when interacting with the monopole, which is phenomenologically identical to the monopole catalysis of nucleon decay. Short-distance monopole-Skyrmion physics in this model is interesting too, as there exist almost degenerate metastable monopole-Skyrmion bound states separated by substantial energy barriers. Yet the heights of the latter are much smaller than the physical nucleon mass, so the complete disappearance of the normal undeformed Skyrmion remains perfectly possible in Skyrmion-monopole scattering.