Nonlinear electroweak sphaleron clouds around Kerr black holes
Abstract
Kerr black holes and electroweak sphalerons are remarkable solutions of two pillars of modern physics: General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics, respectively. In this work, we investigate their interplay by constructing nonlinear sphaleron clouds around Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes in the probe limit. We first revisit static and spinning (multi-)sphalerons in flat spacetime, using the measured electroweak parameters. We then explore the domain of existence and physical properties of the corresponding black-hole configurations, revealing a rich branch structure. Remarkably, the sphaleron clouds retain a finite mass gap and do not approach linear clouds within the families studied, distinguishing them from the familiar clouds associated with the onset of superradiant instabilities. We also obtain a closed-form leading-order Higgs solution on an exact Yang-Mills configuration in a Schwarzschild background.
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BibTeX
@misc{herdeiro2026nonlinear,
title = {{Nonlinear electroweak sphaleron clouds around Kerr black holes}},
author = {Carlos Herdeiro and Jutta Kunz and Hendrik Mennenga and Eugen Radu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.31845},
eprint = {2609.31845},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31845},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Nonlinear electroweak sphaleron clouds around Kerr black holes
AU - Carlos Herdeiro
AU - Jutta Kunz
AU - Hendrik Mennenga
AU - Eugen Radu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.31845
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31845
AB - Kerr black holes and electroweak sphalerons are remarkable solutions of two pillars of modern physics: General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics, respectively. In this work, we investigate their interplay by constructing nonlinear sphaleron clouds around Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes in the probe limit. We first revisit static and spinning (multi-)sphalerons in flat spacetime, using the measured electroweak parameters. We then explore the domain of existence and physical properties of the corresponding black-hole configurations, revealing a rich branch structure. Remarkably, the sphaleron clouds retain a finite mass gap and do not approach linear clouds within the families studied, distinguishing them from the familiar clouds associated with the onset of superradiant instabilities. We also obtain a closed-form leading-order Higgs solution on an exact Yang-Mills configuration in a Schwarzschild background.
ER -