First-order formalism for Alice string

We apply the first-order formalism method to obtaining BPS equations for Alice string. This is done by generalizing the well-known first-order formalism to the case of non-Abelian strings. We do not assume any specific gauge group nor the shape of the kinetic term function, but require only that the fields are axially-symmetric and static. With this formalism we reproduce the BPS equations of SU(2)×U(1) Alice strings (Chatterjee and Nitta, 2017), and present their corresponding numerical solutions. •The BPS equations for Alice strings.•The first use of first-order formalism in non-Abelian defects.•The Bogomolny equations for Alice strings.