On sphaleron deformations induced by Yukawa interactions

Abstract

Due to the presence of the chiral anomaly sphalerons with Chern-Simons number a half (CS=1/2) are the only static configurations that allow for a fermion level crossing in the two-dimensional Abelian-Higgs model with massless fermions, i.e. in the absence of Yukawa interactions. In the presence of fermion-Higgs interactions we demonstrate the existence of zero energy solutions to the one-dimensional Dirac equation at deformed sphalerons with CS$\neq 1/2 .$ Induced level crossing due to Yukawa interactions illustrates a non-trivial generalization of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem and of the equivalence between parity anomaly in odd and the chiral anomaly in even dimensions. We discuss a subtle manifestation of this effect in the standard electroweak theory at finite temperatures.