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Boson stars are hypothetical compact objects derived from solutions of a self-gravitating complex scalar field. In this study, we extend the traditional models by generalizing the kinetic term of the scalar field to that of a nonlinear sigma model. Concretely, we obtain spinning boson star solutions for a family of models parametrized by the curvature of their two-dimensional target manifold, as well as for various self-interaction potentials. We derive the global properties and multipolar structure of these solutions as a function of both the curvature of the target space and the strength of self-interactions. Our results suggest that a nonzero curvature in the target manifold can have a significant impact on the structure of the solutions, allowing for a range of notably different masses and degrees of compactness. However, we find that the relations between different multipoles are consistent with those for the standard complex scalar stars, and hence the universality of such relations is extended to curved target spaces., Comment: 22 pages, 38 Figures

The Montonen-Sarker-Trullinger-Bishop (MSTB) model enjoys two classically degenerate kink solutions in the same topological sector. We construct the instanton that interpolates between them and argue that the two lowest lying Hamiltonian eigenstates in the kink sector of the corresponding quantum theory correspond to symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of coherent states localized at these two solutions. We use the instanton gas approximation to provide a simple, analytic formula for the leading contribution to the mass splitting between these two states., Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures

We demonstrate that the geodesic dynamics of BPS solitons can be modified by the excitation of Feshbach resonances, or quasi-bound modes, in a toy model of two scalar fields. A mode-generated force emerges, with a strength determined by the spectral flow of the frequency on the moduli space, and weakened by the coupling between the bound and scattering components of the resonance. Notably, spectral walls persist unaffected by the resonant mode's exponential decay, as the decay constant vanishes at the spectral wall. Our motivation comes from the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles, which do not present true bound states but long lived semi-bound excitations. Our findings suggest the existence of spectral walls in the scattering of excited monopoles in three dimensions, whose trajectories may significantly deviate from the geodesic motion in the moduli space of unexcited monopoles., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. Minor changes in the text and abstract. Three new references added

We introduce a systematic method to derive the effective action for domain walls directly from the scalar field theory that gives rise to their solitonic solutions. The effective action for the Goldstone mode, which characterizes the soliton's position, is shown to consist of the Nambu-Goto action supplemented by higher-order curvature invariants associated to its worldvolume metric. Our approach constrains the corrections to a finite set of Galileon terms, specifying both their functional forms and the procedure to compute their coefficients. We do a collection of tests across various models in $2+1$ and $3+1$ dimensions that confirm the validity of this framework. Additionally, the method is extended to include bound scalar fields living on the worldsheet, along with their couplings to the Goldstone mode. These interactions reveal a universal non-minimal coupling of these scalar fields to the Ricci scalar on the worldsheet. A significant consequence of this coupling is the emergence of a parametric instability, driven by interactions between the bound states and the Goldstone mode., Comment: 46 pages, 10 figures

We present a detailed description of a quantum scalar field theory within a flat spacetime confined to a cavity with perfectly reflecting moving boundaries. Moreover, we establish an equivalence between this time-dependent setting and a field theory on an acoustic metric with static Dirichlet boundary conditions. We discuss the classical and quantum aspects of the theory from the latter perspective, accompanied by the introduction of novel numerical techniques designed for the (nonperturbative) computation of particle production attributed to the Dynamical Casimir effect, applicable to arbitrary boundary trajectories. As an illustrative example of these methodologies, we compute the particle production for a massless field in 1+1 dimensions. Notably, our approaches readily extend to encompass scenarios involving massive fields and higher dimensions, Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures; v2: Matches the published version. Some references and clarifications added

We show that any nonlinear field theory giving rise to static solutions with finite energy like, e.g., topological solitons, allows us to derive an infinite number of integral identities which any such solution has to obey. These integral identities can always be understood as being generated by field transformations and their related Noether currents. We also explain why all integral identities generated by coordinate transformations become trivial for Bogomolnyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) solitons, i.e., topological solitons which saturate a topological energy bound. Finally, we consider applications of these identities to a broad class of nonlinear scalar theories, including the Skyrme model. More concretely, we find nontrivial integral identities that can be seen as model-independent relations between certain physical properties of the solitons in such theories, and we comment on the possible connection between these new relations and those already found in the context of astrophysical compact objects. We also demonstrate the usefulness of said identities to estimate the precision of the numerical calculation of soliton observables., Comment: 30 pages, LaTex, v4: improved presentation, typos and an error in Section V corrected

We compute the mass radius, scalar radius, tensor radius, baryon number radius and mechanical radius of nuclei with baryon number $B=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,32,108$ in the Skyrme model. The relations between these radii and the nuclear gravitational form factors are investigated. We also compute the `pressure' distribution and find that it is negative in the core region for all the nuclei with $B>1$. This suggests that the way mechanical stability is achieved in nuclei is qualitatively different than in the nucleon., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. 2 figures changed, 1 figure added for clarity. Other minor changes include an improved accuracy in numerical solutions, and addition of several references

Motivated by recent parity violating electron scattering experiments, we compute the Neutron Skin Thickness (NST) of nuclei modelled as (quantized) Skyrmions, the topological solitons of the Skyrme model. We show how in a certain approximation, the result for the NST is oblivious to the fine details of the (generally very complicated) quantum state of the soliton and only depends on the total baryon number and the isospin number. Moreover, in the leading order, the linear dependence on the asymmetry parameter is recovered, as expected both from experimental data and other models of nuclei such as the liquid drop model., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures

We propose a setting that simulates Hawking radiation from an analogue bouncing geometry, i.e., a collapsing geometry that reverts its collapse after a finite time, in a setup consisting of a coplanar waveguide terminated in superconducting quantum-interference devices at both ends. We demonstrate experimental feasibility of the proposed setup within the current technology. Our analysis illustrates the resilience of Hawking radiation under changes in the physics at energy scales much larger than the temperature, supporting the idea that regular alternatives to black holes would also emit Hawking radiation., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

A general review of the crystalline solutions of the generalized Skyrme model and their application to the study of cold nuclear matter at finite density and the Equation of State (EOS) of neutron stars is presented. For the relevant range of densities, the ground state of the Skyrme model in the three torus is shown to correspond to configurations with different symmetries, with a sequence of phase transitions between such configurations. The effects of nonzero finite isospin asymmetry are taken into account by the canonical quantization of isospin collective coordinates, and some thermodynamical and nuclear observables (such as the symmetry energy) are computed as a function of the density. We also explore the extension of the model to accommodate strange degrees of freedom, and find a first order transition for the condensation of kaons in the Skyrme crystal background in a thermodynamically consistent, non-perturbative way. Finally, an approximate EOS of dense matter is constructed by fitting the free parameters of the model to some nuclear observables close to saturation density, which are particularly relevant for the description of nuclear matter. The resulting neutron star mass-radius curves already reasonably satisfy current astrophysical constraints., Comment: 54 pages, 28 figures, review

Boson Stars are, at present, hypothetical compact stellar objects whose existence, however, could resolve several enigmas of current astrophysics. If they exist, either as independent astrophysical entities or as a matter admixture of more standard compact stars, then their imprints can probably be observed in the not-too-distant future from the gravitational signal of coalescing binaries in current and future GW detectors. Here we show that the multipole moments of rotating boson stars obey certain universal relations, valid for a broad set of models and various states in terms of the \textit{harmonic indices}. These universal relations are equivalent to a kind of no-hair theorem for this exotic matter, allowing to map these universal (i.e. model independent) multipoles to an equally universal gravitational field around the stellar object. Further, the multipole moments can be related to observable astrophysical quantities., Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures. We have added some references

We compute the gravitational form factor $D(t)$ of various nuclei in the generalized Skyrme model where nuclei are described as solitonic field configurations each with a definite baryon number $B$. We separately discuss the cases $B=1$ (nucleons), $B=2$ (deuteron), $B=3$ (helium-3 and tritium) and extrapolate to larger $B$-values. Configurations with $B>1$ are in general not spherically symmetric, and we demonstrate how group theory helps to extract the form factor. Numerical results are presented for the configurations with $B=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,32,108$. We find that the $B$-dependence is consistent with a power-law $D(0)\propto B^{\beta}$ with $\beta=1.7\sim 1.8$. Other gravitational form factors can be calculated in the same framework, and we show the result for the $J(t)$ form factor associated with angular momentum for the $B=3$ solution., Comment: Version accepted in PRD. Minor typos corrected, new references and table 1 with values of D terms added. 15 pages, 7 figures

We address the possibility of the appearance of a charged kaon condensate in neutron star cores described within a generalized Skyrme model. Our treatment of strange degrees of freedom is based on the Bound State Approach by Callan and Klebanov, which allows to obtain an in-medium effective potential for the $s$-wave kaon condensate. We predict the onset of kaon condensation at a certain threshold density - whose value depends on the parameters of the model, and ranges between 1.5 and 2.5 times saturation density -, and obtain both the particle fractions and equation of state for dense matter in the kaon condensed phase. Finally, we discuss the effect of such condensates on the mass-radius curves and other observable properties of neutron stars with kaon condensed cores., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures

Many kink solutions enjoy internal excitations, called shape modes. In some 1+1d scalar models, such as the $\phi^4$ double-well model, when a kink's shape mode is excited twice it may decay to a ground state kink plus a meson. We analytically calculate the decay rates of both the twice-excited shape mode and also a coherent state corresponding to the classically excited shape mode. In the case of the $\phi^4$ model, we find that the latter agrees with the classical result of Manton and Merabet., Comment: 20 pages, no figures

We present the idea of using the holonomy along a line of a constrained instanton solution (an approximate solution of the Euclidean equations of motion subject to a constraint) of an $\rm SU(2)$ Yang-Mills-Higgs theory to approximate the Skyrmion solution in a chiral model with massive pions. The fact that the gauge field acquires a nonzero mass due to the Higgs mechanism implies that a constrained instanton decays exponentially far from its center, and so does the Skyrmion configuration that it generates via the Atiyah-Manton construction. This is precisely the desired behavior at large distances for the true Skyrmion solutions when the pion mass is included., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. Typos corrected, especially in eqs. 36 and 37. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. B

Boson stars represent a hypothetical exotic type of compact stellar object that may be observed from the gravitational signal of coalescing binaries in current and future GW detectors. In this work we show that the moment of inertia $I$, the (dimensionless) angular momentum $\chi$ and the quadrupole moment $Q$ of rotating boson stars obey a universal relation, valid for a wide set of boson star models. Further, the obtained $I-\chi-Q~$ relation clearly differs from its famous neutron star counterpart, providing us with an unequivocal diagnostic tool to distinguish boson stars from ordinary compact stars or other celestial bodies in GW observations. Such universal (i.e. model-independent) relations also provide a useful tool to probe the strong gravity regime of general relativity and to constrain the equation of state of matter inside compact stars., Comment: 12 pages, 20 figures. In this current version, we have changed the format and the Appendix

The canonical quantization method for collective coordinates in crystalline configurations of the generalized Skyrme model is applied in order to find the quantum ground state of Skyrmion crystals and study the quantum corrections to the binding energy resulting from the isospin degrees of freedom. This leads to a consistent description of asymmetric nuclear matter within the Skyrme framework and allows us to compute the symmetry energy of the Skyrmionic crystal as a function of the baryon density, and to compare with recent observational constraints., Comment: V3: 16 pages, 4 figures. Some typos corrected. Minor changes in figures 1, 3 and 4. References added

Skyrmion crystals are the field configurations which minimize the energy per baryon in the infinitely large topological charge sector of the Skyrme model, at least for sufficiently high density. They are, therefore, an important tool to describe the ground state of cold, symmetric nuclear matter at high density regimes. In this work, we analyze different crystalline phases and the existence of phase transitions between them within the generalized Skyrme model, with the ultimate goal of describing symmetric nuclear matter in a wide regime of densities. Furthermore, we propose a new energy-minimizing phase for densities lower than the nuclear saturation point ($n_0$) which also presents a good qualitative behavior in the zero density limit, thereby improving the description of strongly interacting matter in the region $n

First proposed in 2013 by Yagi and Yunes, the quasi-universal \emph{I-Love-Q relations} consist of a set of relations between the moment of inertia, the spin-induced quadrupole moment and the electric quadrupolar tidal deformability of neutron stars which are independent of the Equation of State (EoS) within an accuracy of $\sim1\%$. In this work, we show that these relations hold for different Skyrme-based nuclear matter EoS and also for the star-like solutions of different Einstein-BPS-Skyrme-models, some of which do not even present a barotropic equation of state. Further, other quasi-universal relations are analyzed, and together with recent GW observations, we use them to select the generalized Skyrme model that better reproduces observations. Our results reaffirm both the universality of the \emph{I-Love-Q} relations and the suitability of generalized Skyrme models to describe nuclear matter inside neutron stars., Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures

We propose a new equation of state for nuclear matter based on a generalized Skyrme model which is consistent with all current constraints on the observed properties of neutron stars. This generalized model depends only on two free parameters related to the ranges of pressure values at which different submodels are dominant, and which can be adjusted so that mass-radius and deformability constraints from astrophysical and gravitational wave measurements can be met. Our results support the Skyrme model and its generalizations as good candidates for a low energy effective field-theoretic description of nuclear matter even at extreme conditions such as those inside neutron stars., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Minor typos fixed. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. B

Quantum field theory in curved spacetimes suffers in general from an infinite ambiguity in the choice of Fock representation and associated vacuum. In cosmological backgrounds, the requirement of a unitary implementation of the field dynamics in the physical Hilbert space of the theory is a good criterion to ameliorate such ambiguity. Indeed, this criterion, together with a unitary implementation of the symmetries of the equations of motion, leads to a unique equivalence class of Fock representations. In this work, we apply the procedure developed for fields in cosmological settings to analyze the quantization of a scalar field in the presence of an external electromagnetic classical field in a flat background. We find a natural Fock representation that admits a unitary implementation of the quantum field dynamics. It automatically allows to define a particle number density at all times in the evolution with the correct asymptotic behavior, when the electric field vanishes. Moreover we show the unitary equivalence of all the quantizations that fulfill our criteria. Although we perform the field quantization in a specific gauge, we also show the equivalence between the procedures taken in different gauges., Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures