Self-dual SU(3) Chern-Simons Higgs systems

Abstract

We explore self-dual Chern-Simons Higgs systems with the local SU(3) and global U(1) symmetries where the matter field lies in the adjoint representation. We show that there are three degenerate vacua of different symmetries and study the unbroken symmetry and the particle spectrum in each vacuum. We classify the self-dual configurations into three types and study their properties.