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We discover a new class of topological solitons. These solitons can exist in a space of infinite volume like, e.g., $\mathbb{R}^n$, but they cannot be placed in any finite volume, because the resulting formal solutions have infinite energy. These objects are, therefore, interpreted as totally incompressible solitons. As a first, particular example we consider (1+1) dimensional kinks in theories with a nonstandard kinetic term or, equivalently, in models with the so-called runaway (or vacummless) potentials. But incompressible solitons exist also in higher dimensions. As specific examples in (3+1) dimensions we study Skyrmions in the dielectric extensions both of the minimal and the BPS Skyrme models. In the the latter case, the skyrmionic matter describes a completely incompressible topological perfect fluid., Comment: reference added

We analyse a recent generalised free-energy for liquid crystals posited by Virga and falling in the class of quartic functionals in the spatial gradients of the nematic director. We review some known interesting solutions, i. e., uniform heliconical structures, and we find new liquid crystal configurations, which closely resemble some novel, experimentally detected, structures called Skyrmion tubes. These new configurations are characterised by a localised pattern given by the variation of the conical angle. We study the equilibrium differential equations and find numerical solutions and analytical approximations., Comment: Published Version

We show that a suitable background field can bring a non-BPS topological soliton into its BPS, self-dual, counterpart. As an example we consider Skyrmions in the minimal Skyrme model. We prove the triviality of the corresponding moduli space. This means that the resulting self-dual Skyrmion does statically interact with the background field. We also show that the originally self-dual Skyrmions (e.g. solutions of the BPS Skyrme model) can preserve the self-duality after a coupling with a background field. In this case, BPS Skyrmions can be effortless moved with respect to the background., Comment: refs added

Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), subject to externally applied magnetic fields and confined between two parallel planar surfaces with strong homeotropic anchoring conditions, are found to undergo transitions to different types of helicoidal configurations with disclinations. Analytical and numerical studies are performed in order to characterise their properties. In particular, we produce a phase diagram for the transitions from the nematic state to the helicoidal phases in terms of the molecular chirality and the strength of the applied magnetic field., Comment: Published version

We consider Lifshitz field theories with a dynamical critical exponent z equal to the dimension of space d and with a large group of base space symmetries, concretely space coordinate transformations with unit determinant ("Special Diffeomorphisms"). The field configurations of the theories considered may have the topology of skyrmions, vortices or monopoles, although we focus our detailed investigations on skyrmions. The resulting Lifshitz field theories have a BPS bound and exact soliton solutions saturating the bound, as well as time-dependent topological Q-ball solutions. Finally, we investigate the U(1) gauged versions of the Lifshitz field theories coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field, where the BPS bound and soliton solutions saturating the bound continue to exist., Comment: 30 pages, Latex, 3 figures; v2: typos corrected, references added

The baby Skyrme model is a well-known nonlinear field theory supporting topological solitons in two space dimensions. Its action functional consists of a potential term, a kinetic term quadratic in derivatives (the "nonlinear sigma model term") and the Skyrme term quartic in first derivatives. The limiting case of vanishing sigma model term (the so-called BPS baby Skyrme model) is known to support exact soliton solutions saturating a BPS bound which exists for this model. Further, the BPS model has infinitely many symmetries and conservation laws. Recently it was found that the gauged version of the BPS baby Skyrme model with gauge group U(1) and the usual Maxwell term, too, has a BPS bound and BPS solutions saturating this bound. This BPS bound is determined by a superpotential which has to obey a superpotential equation, in close analogy to the situation in supergravity. Further, the BPS bound and the corresponding BPS solitons only may exist for potentials such that the superpotential equation has a global solution. We also briefly describe some properties of soliton solutions., Comment: Latex, 4 pages, Contribution to the "International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (ICMSQUARE)", Budapest, September 2012

We analyze the vector meson formulation of the BPS Skyrme model in (3+1) dimensions, where the term of sixth power in first derivatives characteristic for the original, integrable BPS Skyrme model (the topological or baryon current squared) is replaced by a coupling between the vector meson $\omega_\mu$ and the baryon current. We find that the model remains integrable in the sense of generalized integrability and almost solvable (reducible to a set of two first order ODEs) for any value of the baryon charge. Further, we analyze the appearance of topological solitons for two one-parameter families of one vacuum potentials: the old Skyrme potentials and the so-called BPS potentials. Depending on the value of the parameters we find several qualitatively different possibilities. In the massless case we have a parameter region with no skyrmions, a unique compact skyrmion with a discontinuous first derivative at the boundary (equivalently, with a source term located at the boundary, which screens the topological charge), and Coulomb-like localized solitons. For the massive vector meson, besides the no-skyrmion region and a unique C-compact soliton, we find exponentially as well as power-like localized skyrmions. Further, we find (for a specific potential) BPS solutions, i.e., skyrmions saturating a Bogomolny bound (both for the massless and massive vector mesons) which are unstable for higher values of the baryon charge. The properties of the model are finally compared with its baby version in (2+1) dimensions, and with the original BPS Skyrme model, contributing to a better understanding of the latter., Comment: Latex, 26 pages, 5 figures

We investigate the relation between the BPS baby Skyrme model and its vector meson formulation, where the baby Skyrme term is replaced by a coupling between the topological current $B_\mu$ and the vector meson field $\omega_\mu$. The vector model still possesses infinitely many symmetries leading to infinitely many conserved currents which stand behind its solvability. It turns out that the similarities and differences of the two models depend strongly on the specific form of the potential. We find, for instance, that compactons (which exist in the BPS baby Skyrme model) disappear from the spectrum of solutions of the vector counterpart. Specifically, for the vector model with the old baby Skyrme potential we find that it has compacton solutions only provided that a delta function source term effectively screening the topological charge is inserted at the compacton boundary. For the old baby Skyrme potential squared we find that the vector model supports exponentially localized solitons, like the BPS baby Skyrme model. These solitons, however, saturate a BPS bound which is a nonlinear function of the topological charge and, as a consequence, higher solitons are unstable w.r.t. decay into smaller ones, which is at variance with the more conventional situation (a linear BPS bound and stable solitons) in the BPS baby Skyrme model., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

The baby Skyrme model is a well-known nonlinear field theory supporting topological solitons in two space dimensions. In the limit where the term quadratic in derivatives (the "sigma model term") vanishes some additional structure emerges. The resulting ("extreme" or "restricted" or "BPS") baby Skyrme model has exact soliton solutions saturating a BPS bound which exists for this restricted model. Further, the restricted model has infinitely many symmetries and infinitely many conservation laws. Here we consider the gauged version of the restricted baby Skyrme model with gauge group U(1) and the usual Maxwell term for the gauge field. We find that, again, there exists a BPS bound and BPS solutions saturating this bound. We further find that the whole problem is essentially determined by a new kind of superpotential equation. The BPS bound and the corresponding BPS solitons only may exist for potentials such that the superpotential equation has a solution which exists globally, i.e., on the whole target space. We also calculate soliton solutions both exactly and numerically, completely confirming our qualitative analytical results., Comment: Latex, 53 pages, 15 figures; an incorrect comment on symmetries (base space diffeomorphisms) in Section III corrected; precision of numerical calculations improved; presentation of figures improved; some typos corrected