A new solution to the Callan Rubakov effect

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics Vol. 2024; no. 11; pp. 170 - 41
• Main Author: Brennan, T. Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 28.11.2024; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Angular momentum; Bosons; Boundary conditions; Charged particles; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Decay; Elementary Particles; Fermions; Gauge theory; Global Symmetries; Grand Unification; Hilbert space; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; Scattering; Solitons Monopoles and Instantons; String Theory; Symmetry; Global Symmetries; Grand Unification; Solitons Monopoles and Instantons
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP11(2024)170

A bstract In this paper we study the scattering of massive fermions off of smooth, spherically symmetric monopoles in 4 d SU(2) gauge theory. We propose a complete physical picture of the monopole-fermion interaction which encompasses all angular momentum modes. We show that as an in-going fermion scatters off a monopole, it excites trapped W -bosons in the monopole core by a version of the Witten effect so that the monopole can accrue charge and transform into a dyon at parametrically low energies. The imparted electric charge is then protected from decay by an emergent ℤ N generalized global symmetry, creating a stable dyon. At sufficiently low energies, the scattered fermion can be trapped by the dyon’s electrostatic potential, forming a bound state, which can decay into spherically symmetric fermion modes subject to the preserved ℤ N global symmetry. We propose that monopole-fermion scattering can be described in this way without needing to add “new” states to the Hilbert space, thereby eliminating a long standing confusion in the Callan Rubakov effect.