Stability of the embedded string in the $SU(N)\times U(1)$ Higgs model and its application

Abstract

Since it has been pointed out that physics beyond the Standard Model may be constrained by gravitational waves from cosmic strings, it has been more important to clarify in what cases cosmic strings are formed. We study the stability of the embedded string which is formed when $SU(N)\times U(1)_X$ gauge symmetries are broken to $SU(N-1)\times U(1)_Q$, and find that the stability condition can be determined by two mass ratios of the Higgs and massive gauge bosons, and does not explicitly depend on $N$. We also show that the result can be extended in supersymmetric models. In addition, we apply these results to several models and discuss the important feature of the Higgs to produce the embedded string. Although we find it difficult to be satisfied in normal realistic GUT models, it is possible if $SU(N)$ and $U(1)_X$ have different origins.