2000/06/04 by Daniele Binosi, D. Binosi, M. Shifman +2
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic structures and combinatorial models #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Nonlinear Waves and Solitons #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.63.025006
published as Phys.Rev. D63 (2001) 025006 · LaTeX, 22 pages, 9 figures (eps)
arxiv created 2000/06/04 · openalex publication_date 2000/12/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We discuss quantum tunneling between classically Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) saturated solitons in two-dimensional theories with N=2 supersymmetry and a compact space dimension. Genuine BPS states form shortened multiplets of dimension two. In the models we consider there are two degenerate shortened multiplets at the classical level, but there is no obstruction to pairing up through quantum tunneling. The tunneling amplitude in the imaginary time is described by instantons. We find that the instanton is nothing but the 1/4 BPS saturated ``wall junction,'' considered previously in the literature in other contexts. Two central charges of the superalgebra allow us to calculate the instanton action without finding the explicit solution (it is checked, though, numerically, that the saturated solution does exist). We present a quantum-mechanical interpretation of the soliton tunneling.