Quantum corrections deflate deep bags

Abstract

We examine the formation of nontopological solitons in a Yukawa theory with N fermions and a single scalar field. We solve the theory to leading order 1/N, for any value of the Yukawa coupling g. We find that the full quantum theory supports nontopological soliton solutions, and that the quantum solitons differ significantly from those in the classical theory. For large g, the energy scales with g, while the radius deceases as 1/g. Thus, quantum corrections invalidate the classical picture of tightly bound fermions inside deep bags.