Metastable ringlike semitopological solitons

We show the existence of new stable ringlike localized scalar field configu rations whose stability is due to a combination of topological and nontopol ogical charges. In that sense these defects may be called semitopological. These rings are Noether charged and also carry Noether current (they are su per conducting). They are local minima of the energy in scalar field theori es with an unbroken U(I) global symmetry. We obtain numerical solutions of the field configuration corresponding to large rings and derive virial theo rems demonstrating their stability. We also derive the minimum energy field configurations in 3D and simulate the evolution of a finite size Q ring on a three dimensional lattice.