Hopf solitons in the Nicole model

Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3525805· OSTI ID:21501219

Gillard, Mike; Sutcliffe, Paul ^[1]

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1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

The Nicole model is a conformal field theory in a three-dimensional space. It has topological soliton solutions classified by the integer-valued Hopf charge, and all currently known solitons are axially symmetric. A volume-preserving flow is used to construct soliton solutions numerically for all Hopf charges from 1 to 8. It is found that the known axially symmetric solutions are unstable for Hopf charges greater than 2 and new lower energy solutions are obtained that include knots and links. A comparison with the Skyrme-Faddeev model suggests many universal features, though there are some differences in the link types obtained in the two theories.

• OSTI ID: 21501219
• Journal Information: Journal of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 51, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3525805; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0022-2488
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND COMPUTING
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
AXIAL SYMMETRY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONFORMAL INVARIANCE
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SKYRME POTENTIAL
SOLITONS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TOPOLOGY
EVALUATION
FIELD THEORIES
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
MATHEMATICS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON POTENTIAL
POTENTIALS
QUASI PARTICLES
SPACE
SYMMETRY