Fermion transfer in the $\phi^4$ model with a half-BPS preserving impurity

Abstract

We study a fermion field coupled to a scalar via a Yukawa term. The scalar field is the $\phi^4$ model with an impurity that preserves half of the BPS property. We analyze the spectrum of the defects of the model and collisions between them both close to the BPS regime and not. As the fermion binds to these defects, it may be transferred from one to the other, which we quantify via overlaps, known as Bogoliubov coefficients. BPS collisions are less likely to transfer the fermion between defects and can be adiabatic for non-relativistic velocities, especially for small coupling constants. Moreover, closer to the BPS limit only a small fraction of the fermion number is radiated away. In contrast, non-BPS collisions lead to more radiation in the fermion field and excitation of the fermion to higher bound states, and the result is more sensitive to the parameters.