Electrodynamics with charged strings

Abstract

We show that in a four-dimensional space–time a complex scalar field can be associated with a one-dimensionally extended object, called a charged string. The string is said to be charged because the complex scalar field describing it interacts with an electromagnetic field. A charged string is characterized by an extension of the symmetry group of the charge space to a group of stretch rotations. We propose relativistically invariant and gauge-invariant equations describing the interaction of a complex scalar field with an electromagnetic field, and each solution of them corresponds to a charged string. We achieve this by introducing the notion of a charged string index, which, as verified, takes only integer values. We establish equations from which it follows that charged strings fit naturally into the framework of the Maxwell–Dirac electrodynamics.