1/2-BPS vortex strings in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric ${\rm U}(1)^N$ gauge theories

Abstract

Strings in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric ${\rm U}(1)^N$ gauge theories with $N$ hypermultiplets are studied in the generic setting of an arbitrary Fayet-Iliopoulos triplet of parameters for each gauge group and an invertible charge matrix. Although the string tension is generically of a square-root form, it turns out that all existing BPS (Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield) solutions have a tension which is linear in the magnetic fluxes, which in turn are linearly related to the winding numbers. The main result is a series of theorems establishing three different kinds of solutions of the so-called constraint equations, which can be pictured as orthogonal directions to the magnetic flux in ${\rm SU}(2)_R$ space. We further prove for all cases, that a seemingly vanishing Bogomol'nyi bound cannot have solutions. Finally, we write down the most general vortex equations in both master form and Taubes-like form. Remarkably, the final vortex equations essentially look Abelian in the sense that there is no trace of the ${\rm SU}(2)_R$ symmetry in the equations, after the constraint equations have been solved.