title: Stable cosmic vortons.
abstract: We present solutions in the gauged U(1)×U(1) model of Witten describing vortons-spinning flux loops stabilized against contraction by the centrifugal force. Vortons were heuristically described many years ago; however, the corresponding field theory solutions were not obtained and so the stability issue remained open. We construct explicitly a family of stationary vortons characterized by their charge and angular momentum. Most of them are unstable and break in pieces when perturbed. However, thick vortons with a small radius preserve their form in the 3+1 nonlinear dynamical evolution. This gives the first ever evidence of stable vortons and impacts several branches of physics where they could potentially exist. These range from cosmology, since vortons could perhaps contribute to dark matter, to QCD and condensed matter physics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA and Department of Theoretical Physics, The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, SE-10691 Sweden.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garaud
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Radu
authors.forename: Mikhail S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Volkov