Multisphalerons in the Weak Interactions

Abstract

We construct multisphaleron solutions in the weak interactions. The multisphaleron solutions carry Chern-Simons charge $n/2$, where $n$ is an integer. The well-known sphaleron has $n=1$ and is spherically symmetric for vanishing mixing angle. In contrast the multisphalerons with $n>1$ are only axially symmetric, even for vanishing mixing angle. The greater $n$, the stronger the energy density deforms. While for small Higgs masses the energy of the multisphalerons is smaller than $n$ times the energy of the sphaleron, the energy of the multisphalerons is larger than $n$ times the energy of the sphaleron for large Higgs masses.