Speed limit in internal space of domain walls via all-order effective action of moduli motion

Abstract: We find that motion in internal moduli spaces of generic domain walls has an upper bound for its velocity. Our finding is based on our generic formula for all-order effective actions of internal moduli parameter of domain wall solitons. It is known that the Nambu-Goldstone mode $Z$ associated with spontaneous breaking of translation symmetry obeys a Nambu-Goto effective Lagrangian $\sqrt{1 - (\partial_0 Z)^2}$ detecting the speed of light ($|\partial_0 Z|=1$) in the target spacetime. Solitons can have internal moduli parameters as well, associated with a breaking of internal symmetries such as a phase rotation acting on a field. We obtain, for generic domain walls, an effective Lagrangian of the internal moduli $\epsilon$ to all order in $(\partial \epsilon)$. The Lagrangian is given by a function of the Nambu-Goto Lagrangian: $L = g(\sqrt{1 + (\partial_\mu \epsilon)^2})$. This shows generically the existence of an upper bound on $\partial_0 \epsilon$, i.e. a speed limit in the internal space. The speed limit exists even for solitons in some non-relativistic field theories, where we find that $\epsilon$ is a type I Nambu-Goldstone mode which also obeys a nonlinear dispersion to reach the speed limit. This offers a possibility of detecting the speed limit in condensed matter experiments.