Interactions of non-Abelian global strings

Non-Abelian global strings are expected to form during the chiral phase transition. They have orientational zero modes in the internal space, associated with the vector-like symmetry SU(N)(L+R) broken in the presence of strings. The interaction among two parallel non-Abelian global strings is derived for general relative orientational zero modes. giving a non-Abelian generalization of the Magnus force. It is shown that when the orientations of the strings are the same, the repulsive force reaches the maximum, whereas when the relative orientation becomes the maximum, no force exists between the strings. For the Abelian case we find a finite volume correction to the known result. The marginal instability of the previously known Abelian eta' strings is discussed. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.