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Questions tagged [solitons]

Solitons are self-stabilizing solitary wave packets maintaining their shape propagating at a constant velocity. They are caused by a balance of nonlinear and dispersive (where the speed of the waves varies with frequency) effects in the medium.

7 votes
1 answer
111 views

Why does this condition guarantees there exists only a finite number of discrete energy levels?

I'm reading section 2.2.1 of the book Solitons, Instantons and Twistors by Maciej Dunajski. The section is on the subject of direct scattering. It is claimed that, considering Schrodinger's equation ...
João Streibel's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
234 views

Do instantons support quantum bound states?

When one quantizes a scalar in the 1+1 dimensions in the kink background of a double well potential, one finds a spectrum that includes: (1) a zero mode corresponding to the classical particle ...
Pengpeng Xu's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
109 views

Can a "depressive soliton" wave exist? That is, can we have a trough without any crest? Why or why not?

I know that "soliton" waves can consist of a crest without a trough. One would expect the reverse to be true as well. However, this Wikipedia excerpt says, So for this nonlinear gravity ...
Abdullah is not an Amalekite's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
286 views

Non-topological solitons in condensed matter physics

As I know most well-known soliton solutions in condensed matter physics are topological ones: kinks, domain walls etc. In field theory there are several examples on non-topological solitons: Q-balls, ...
newt's user avatar
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7 votes
0 answers
1k views

Are QFT solitons expected to represent standard model particles? Or strings?

Is work on solitons in QFT's focused on finding solutions that could represent the fundamental particles of the Standard Model, or is the work focused on finding particles Beyond The Standard Model? ...
user1247's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Distinction of Dirac monopole and Polyakov-'t Hooft monopole

Can anybody explain the physical difference between Dirac monopole and Polyakov monopole? First, let me write down what I know briefly. Dirac monopole It comes from the symmetry of Maxwell ...
phy_math's user avatar
  • 3,622
6 votes
1 answer
635 views

Spontaneous discrete symmetry breaking always implies domain walls

I've read several times that if a discrete symmetry is spontaneously broken, then there exist domain walls that interpolate between the different vacua. However, Weinberg says that if the former ...
Alonso Perez-Lona's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
525 views

Link between integrability and soliton solutions

I have been doing some research on the properties and dynamics of solitons (in particular, solitons in superfluids) and several works and papers mention the link between solitonic solutions and ...
PhysicsBoy55's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
377 views

Significance of massive states in string theory

A free superstring has an infinite tower of states with increasing mass. The massless states correspond to the fields of the corresponding SUGRA. In "Quantum Fields and Strings: A Course for ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
492 views

Theory on domain walls

In Baryons in Quantum Chromodynamics, Zohar Komargodski have slide: I wanna understand: Why domein wall can have nontrivial worldvolume theory? When such solitonic objects have interior degrees of ...
Nikita's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
286 views

An interesting observation: Ordered, up and down movement of vortex rings in water

I was watching a video on David Tong's research work when I stumbled upon a peculiar movement of vortex rings in water. Around the 1:20 time mark, Baths and Quarks: Solitons explained, David Tong uses ...
user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
687 views

Is optical-illusion responsible for Loch Ness monster? [closed]

When you look out at the white-caps on a wind-swept lake, you can see a dark, undulating pattern under the crests of the white-caps. Could this shadow-like area explain the sightings? Revised, see ...
Fred Daniel Kline's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do plane waves exist in nature? [duplicate]

Drop a stone in the pond...a wave propagates radially from the source. The conservation of energy says the wave must decay proportionally to the radial distance. If I drop a steel I-beam in the pond, ...
ThatsRightJack's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
469 views

How to Diagonalize Self-Interacting Scalar Hamiltonian for Mass Term from Polyakov Paper?

So, I'm reading through Polyakov's paper from 1974, "Particle Spectrum in Quantum Field Theory." I'm trying to work through all of the steps and properly understand everything. For context, ...
PaulPhy's user avatar
  • 133
5 votes
1 answer
286 views

Why can you make $V$ stationary with respect to a parameter of the field in Derrick's theorem?

I'm going over Coleman's derivation of Derrick's theorem for real scalar fields in the chapter Classical lumps and their quantum descendants from Aspects of Symmetry (page 194). Theorem: Let $\phi$ ...
jeau_von_shrau's user avatar

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