Journal of High Energy Physics (May 2021)

On stability of fermionic superconducting current in cosmic string

  • Masahiro Ibe,
  • Shin Kobayashi,
  • Yuhei Nakayama,
  • Satoshi Shirai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2021)217
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2021, no. 5
pp. 1 – 25

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Recently, the chiral superconductivity of the cosmic string in the axion model has gathered attention. The superconductive nature can alter the standard understanding of the cosmology of the axion model. For example, a string loop with a sizable super-conducting current can become a stable configuration, which is called a Vorton. The superconductive nature can also affect the cosmological evolution of the string network. In this paper, we study the stability of the superconducting current in the string. We find the superconductivity is indeed stable for a straight string or infinitely small string core size, even if the carrier particles are unstable in the vacuum. However we also find that the carrier particle decays in a curved string in typical axion models, if the carrier particles are unstable in the vacuum. Accordingly, the lifetime of the Vorton is not far from that of the carrier particle in the vacuum.

Keywords