Polarized Vector Oscillons. (arXiv:2111.08700v2 [astro-ph.CO] UPDATED)
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zhang_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Hong-Yi Zhang</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jain_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Mudit Jain</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Amin_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Mustafa A. Amin</a>
Oscillons are spatially localized, time-periodic and long-lived
configurations that were primarily proposed in scalar field theories with
attractive self-interactions. In this letter, we demonstrate that oscillons
also exist in the low-energy effective theory of an interacting massive (real)
vector field. We provide two types of vector oscillons with vanishing orbital
angular momentum, and approximately spherically symmetric energy density, but
not field configurations. These are: (1) “directional” oscillons (linearly
polarized), with vanishing total intrinsic spin, and (2) “spinning” oscillons
(circularly polarized) with a macroscopic instrinsic spin equal to
$hbartimes$ number of particles in the oscillon. In contrast to the case with
only gravitational interactions, the two oscillons have different energy at a
fixed particle number even in the nonrelativistic limit. By carrying out
relativistic $3+1$d simulations, we show that these oscillons can be long-lived
(compared to the oscillation time for the fields), and can arise from a range
of Gaussian initial spatial profiles. These considerations make vector
oscillons potentially relevant during the early universe and in dark photon
dark matter, with novel phenomenology related to their polarization.
Oscillons are spatially localized, time-periodic and long-lived
configurations that were primarily proposed in scalar field theories with
attractive self-interactions. In this letter, we demonstrate that oscillons
also exist in the low-energy effective theory of an interacting massive (real)
vector field. We provide two types of vector oscillons with vanishing orbital
angular momentum, and approximately spherically symmetric energy density, but
not field configurations. These are: (1) “directional” oscillons (linearly
polarized), with vanishing total intrinsic spin, and (2) “spinning” oscillons
(circularly polarized) with a macroscopic instrinsic spin equal to
$hbartimes$ number of particles in the oscillon. In contrast to the case with
only gravitational interactions, the two oscillons have different energy at a
fixed particle number even in the nonrelativistic limit. By carrying out
relativistic $3+1$d simulations, we show that these oscillons can be long-lived
(compared to the oscillation time for the fields), and can arise from a range
of Gaussian initial spatial profiles. These considerations make vector
oscillons potentially relevant during the early universe and in dark photon
dark matter, with novel phenomenology related to their polarization.
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