NORMAL-MODES AROUND THE SU(2) SPHALERONS

In addition to the well-known sphaleron solution, a whole sequence of unstable classical solutions, called deformed sphalerons, exists in the Weinberg-Salam model for large values of the Higgs mass. In the limit of vanishing Weinberg angle, we construct the discrete positive and negative normal modes of the sphaleron and of the first few deformed sphalerons, restricting the analysis to modes with spherical symmetry. The pattern of these modes closely resembles the one obtained by Manton and Samols for a scale field theory on a circle. © 1990.