Topological and Nontopological Solitons in a Gauged O(3) Sigma Model with Chern-Simons term

TL;DR

This paper investigates the existence and properties of both topological and nontopological self-dual solitons in a gauged O(3) sigma model with a Chern-Simons term, revealing infinite degeneracy of topological solutions.

Contribution

It introduces a model with a Chern-Simons term that admits new self-dual solitons, highlighting their topological and nontopological nature and degeneracy.

Findings

Existence of both topological and nontopological solitons

Topological solitons are infinitely degenerate

Self-dual solutions depend on specific potential choices

Abstract

The $O(3)$ nonlinear sigma model with its $U(1)$ subgroup gauged, where the gauge field dynamics is solely governed by a Chern-Simons term, admits both topological as well as nontopological self-dual soliton solutions for a specific choice of the potential. It turns out that the topological solitons are infinitely degenerate in any given sector.