Dyons in topological field theories

Abstract

We examine a class of topological field theories defined by Lagrangians that under certain conditions can be written as the sum of two characteristic numbers or winding numbers. Therefore, the action or the energy is a topological invariant and stable under perturbations. The sufficient conditions required for stability take the form of first-order field equations, analogous to the self-duality and Bogomol'nyi equations in Yang-Mills(-Higgs) theory. Solutions to the first-order equations automatically satisfy the full field equations. We show the existence of nontrivial, nonsingular, minimum energy spherically symmetric dyon solutions and that they are stable. We also discuss evidence for a dual field theory to Yang-Mills-Higgs in topological field theory. The existence of dual field theories and electric monopoles is predicted by Montonen and Olive.