On the stability of non-Abelian semi-local vortices Original Research Article

We study the stability of non-Abelian semi-local vortices based on an image supersymmetric image gauge theory with an arbitrary number of flavors (image) in the fundamental representation, when certain image mass terms are present, making the vortex solutions no longer BPS-saturated. Local (ANO-like) vortices are found to be stable against fluctuations in the transverse directions. Strong evidence is found that the ANO-like vortices are actually the true minima. In other words, the semi-local moduli, which are present in the BPS limit, disappear in our non-BPS system, leaving the vortex with the orientational moduli image only. We discuss the implications of this fact on the system in which the image model arises as the low-energy approximation of an underlying e.g. image gauge theory.