Numerical study of a confining color-dielectric soliton model

Abstract

Using the numerical methods recently suggested by Dodd and Lohe, we have made an accurate and detailed study of (nontopological) soliton solutions in a particular color-dielectric model. The coupling of the quarks to the confining scalar field in this model leads to absolute confinement and strong dependence of the soliton properties on the quark masses. The nucleon is well described as a two-phase soliton over a wide range of input parameters. Single-phase soliton solutions, where the confining field is everywhere close to its vacuum value, are also presented for comparison. A striking property of this model is that over a narrow range of input parameters, where the transition from one to two phase solutions occurs, three separate solutions (close in energy) coexist. The associated fold in solution space is explored.