Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We investigate the collision dynamics of two bright sphalerons in a (1+1)-dimensional deformed $ϕ^6$ scalar field theory with a symmetric potential possessing false vacua. Two one-parameter realizations of the model, referred to as the barrier and well models, are considered and their static and linear instability properties are first reviewed. We then study head-on collisions of boosted sphalerons over a broad range of initial velocities and deformation parameters. The scattering dynamics exhibit a rich variety of final states, including the production of kink-antikink pairs, long-lived oscillons in true and false vacuum, multiple oscillons propagating in false-vacuum regions, and radiative decay. A particularly remarkable outcome is the emergence of a long-lived bubble of the false broken vacuum bounded by a kink-antikink pair, which repeatedly collapses and re-expands before eventually decaying into an oscillon. These results demonstrate that deformed $ϕ^6$ theories with false vacua exhibit considerably richer sphaleron dynamics than previously known and provide new insight into the role of unstable localized configurations in nonlinear field theories.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Topic: Nonlinear Waves and Solitons
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1086978037, G1175115578, G1840991089, G2262748287, G24120701, G2601397997, G2928245867, G294895050, G300979063, G3233861874, G3480869486, G3681454997, G4042783231, G410571670, G425668148, G4462967385, G451917667, G464105488, G4776079577, G507957923, G5080475149, G523076202, G5967599077, G8037394432
OpenAlex ID: W7202384579