Some Comments on the Spin of the Chern-Simons Vortices

We compute the spin of both the topological and nontopological solitons of the ChernSimons-Higgs model using our approach based on constrained analysis. We also propose an extension of our method to the non-relativistic Chern-Simons models. The spin formula for both the relativistic and nonrelativistic theories turn out to be structurally identical. This form invariance manifests the topological origin of the Chern-Simons term responsible for inducing fractional spin. Also, some comparisons with existing results are made. In (2+1)-dimensional field theories, the gauge-field dynamics may be dictated by the Chern-Simons (C-S) piece instead of the Maxwell (Yang-Mills) term. Interest in the C-S field theories originated from the observation that the C-S term implements the Hopf interaction in the (2+1)-dimensional O(3) nonlinear sigma model within the framework of local gauge theory. 1) The soliton sector of the theory offers excitations (baby skyrmions) carrying fractional spin and statistics. 2),3) Pure C-S coupled field theories can support self-dual vortex configurations — a fact exemplified by numerous models. 4) A remarkable aspect of the C-S gauge field is that it can be