Q-balls Under Spontaneously Broken U(1) Symmetry

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kawasaki, Masahiro, Murai, Kai, Takahashi, Fuminobu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kawasaki, Masahiro
Murai, Kai
Takahashi, Fuminobu
author_facet Kawasaki, Masahiro
Murai, Kai
Takahashi, Fuminobu
contents We study the evolution of Q-balls under a spontaneously broken global $U(1)$ symmetry. Q-balls are stabilized by the conservation of $U(1)$ charge, but when the symmetry is spontaneously broken, the resulting Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson can carry charge away from the Q-ball, potentially leading to charge leakage. To study this process in a controlled setting, we consider a scenario where Q-balls first form under an unbroken $U(1)$ symmetry, which is then spontaneously broken. We introduce two complex scalar fields: one responsible for forming the Q-ball, and the other for spontaneously breaking the $U(1)$ symmetry, allowing us to clearly separate the formation and symmetry-breaking phases. Using numerical simulations in a spherically symmetric system, we find that the evolution of Q-balls depends sensitively on the structure of the interaction between the two fields and the magnitude of symmetry breaking. Depending on parameters, Q-balls can completely decay, evaporate into smaller, stable Q-balls, or transition into oscillons/I-balls. In particular, we find that stable, localized remnants often survive the evolution over long timescales, especially when the symmetry-breaking scale is small. These results demonstrate that, even though spontaneous $U(1)$ breaking can lead to significant energy and charge loss from Q-balls, stable localized objects with reduced or no charge can frequently survive and potentially contribute to cosmological relics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_13509
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Q-balls Under Spontaneously Broken U(1) Symmetry
Kawasaki, Masahiro
Murai, Kai
Takahashi, Fuminobu
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
We study the evolution of Q-balls under a spontaneously broken global $U(1)$ symmetry. Q-balls are stabilized by the conservation of $U(1)$ charge, but when the symmetry is spontaneously broken, the resulting Nambu-Goldstone (NG) boson can carry charge away from the Q-ball, potentially leading to charge leakage. To study this process in a controlled setting, we consider a scenario where Q-balls first form under an unbroken $U(1)$ symmetry, which is then spontaneously broken. We introduce two complex scalar fields: one responsible for forming the Q-ball, and the other for spontaneously breaking the $U(1)$ symmetry, allowing us to clearly separate the formation and symmetry-breaking phases. Using numerical simulations in a spherically symmetric system, we find that the evolution of Q-balls depends sensitively on the structure of the interaction between the two fields and the magnitude of symmetry breaking. Depending on parameters, Q-balls can completely decay, evaporate into smaller, stable Q-balls, or transition into oscillons/I-balls. In particular, we find that stable, localized remnants often survive the evolution over long timescales, especially when the symmetry-breaking scale is small. These results demonstrate that, even though spontaneous $U(1)$ breaking can lead to significant energy and charge loss from Q-balls, stable localized objects with reduced or no charge can frequently survive and potentially contribute to cosmological relics.
title Q-balls Under Spontaneously Broken U(1) Symmetry
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.13509