Non-abelian monopoles and vortices

Abstract

The Seiberg-Witten equations are defined on certain complex line bundles over smooth oriented four manifolds. When the base manifold is a complex Kahler surface, the Seiberg-Witten equations are essentially the Abelian vortex equations. Using known non-abelian generalizations of the vortex equations as a guide, we explore some non-abelian versions of the Seiberg-Witten equations. We also make some comments about the differences between the vortex equations that have previously appeared in the literature and those that emerge as Kahler versions of Seiberg-witten type equations.