Elementary vorton instability in a Yang-Mills model

Summary

A model consisting of anSO(3) gauge field coupled to a single Higgs isovector is considered. An Abelian gauge symmetry, identified with the electromagneticU(1) gauge symmetry, survives the spontaneous symmetry breaking. The model admits solutions which can describe either neutral gauge strings or strings which carry charge and current. Circular-loop configurations of the charged strings form the vortons of the model, provided that there exists a large-distance cut-off corresponding to the loop radius. It is found that if elementary vortons which carry a single unit of electric charge exist, then they are quantum-mechanically unstable against decay.