4.4 Article

Strange quark mass turns magnetic domain walls into multi-winding flux tubes

Journal

Publisher

IOP Publishing Ltd
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6471/abcb9d

Keywords

QCD phase diagram; color superconductivity; magnetic flux tubes

Funding

  1. Science AMP
  2. Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
  3. STFC [ST/M005046/1] Funding Source: UKRI

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Research has shown that when the strange quark mass increases, magnetic domain walls evolve into multi-winding flux tubes with ring-like magnetic field structures. These flux tubes may appear in the QCD phase diagram under certain conditions.
Dense quark matter is expected to behave as a type-II superconductor at strong coupling. It was previously shown that if the strange quark mass m(s) is neglected, magnetic domain walls in the so-called 2SC phase are the energetically preferred magnetic defects in a certain parameter region. Computing the flux tube profiles and associated free energies within a Ginzburg-Landau approach, we find a cascade of multi-winding flux tubes as 'remnants' of the domain wall when m(s) is increased. These flux tubes exhibit an unconventional ring-like structure of the magnetic field. We show that flux tubes with winding numbers larger than one survive for values of m(s) up to about 20% of the quark chemical potential. This makes them unlikely to play a significant role in compact stars, but they may appear in the QCD phase diagram in the presence of an external magnetic field.

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