Transitions between vortex rings, and monopole-antimonopole chains

In monopole-antimonopole chain solutions of SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory the Higgs field vanishes at m isolated points along the symmetry axis, whereas in vortex ring solutions the Higgs field vanishes along one or more rings, centered around the symmetry axis. We investigate how these static axially symmetric solutions depend on the strength of the Higgs selfcoupling λ. We show, that as the coupling is getting large, new branches of solutions appear at critical values of λ. Exhibiting a different node structure, these give rise to transitions between vortex rings and monopole-antimonopole chains.