Towards a quantum theory of solitons

We formulate a quantum coherent state picture for topological and non-topological solitons. We recognize that the topological charge arises from the infinite occupation number of zero momentum quanta flowing in one direction. Thus, the Noether charge of microscopic constituents gives rise to a topological charge in the macroscopic description. This fact explains the conservation of topological charge from the basic properties of coherent states. It also shows that no such conservation exists for non-topological solitons, which have finite mean occupation number. Consequently, they can have an exponentially-small but non-zero overlap with the vacuum, leading to vacuum instability. This amplitude can be interpreted as a coherent state description of false vacuum decay. Next we show that we can represent topological solitons as a convolution of two sectors that carry information about topology and energy separately, which makes their difference very transparent. Finally, we show how interaction among the solitons can be understood from basic properties of quantum coherent states. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V