We develop a precise analytic description of oscillons—long-lived quasiperiodic field lumps—in scalar field theories with nearly quadratic potentials, e.g., the monodromy potential. Such oscillons are essentially nonperturbative due to large amplitudes, and they achieve extreme longevities. Our method is based on a consistent expansion in the anharmonicity of the potential at strong fields, which is made accurate by introducing a field-dependent “running mass.” At every order, we compute effective action for the oscillon profile and other parameters. Comparison with explicit numerical simulations in ($3+1$)-dimensional monodromy model shows that our method is significantly more precise than other analytic approaches.

• Received 13 June 2023
• Accepted 18 August 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.063514

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Published by the American Physical Society