Non-topological solitons

Q-balls and Q-rings

Q-balls
Scattering of two Q balls (click for animation).

Q balls are non-topological solitons in the sense that no topologically conserved quantities are present. They have been proposed to help in the explanation of dark matter in a cosmological setting. We have used numerical simulations and semianalytical methods to investigate the stability and the interactions of nontopological stationary Q-balls in two space dimensions. We have simulated the scattering of Q balls and have shown that the right angle scattering effect observed in topological soliton scattering in two dimensions persists also in the case of Q balls (see simulations). [PRD, 2000]

The generalization of two-dimensional Q balls to three-dimensional Q strings can give stable Q rings. (see simulations) [PRL, 2001]