Gauged compact <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>Q</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -balls and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>Q</mml:mi> <

We study a multicomponent <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mi>C</a:mi> <a:msup> <a:mi>P</a:mi> <a:mi>N</a:mi> </a:msup> </a:math> model’s scalar electrodynamics. The model contains <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mi>Q</c:mi> </c:math> -balls and <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:mi>Q</e:mi> </e:math> -shells, which are nontopological compact solitons with time dependency <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <g:msup> <g:mi>e</g:mi> <g:mrow> <g:mi>i</g:mi> <g:mi>ω</g:mi> <g:mi>t</g:mi> </g:mrow> </g:msup> </g:math> . Two coupled <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <i:mi>C</i:mi> <i:msup> <i:mi>P</i:mi> <i:mi>N</i:mi> </i:msup> </i:math> models can decouple locally if one of their <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <k:mi>C</k:mi> <k:msup> <k:mi>P</k:mi> <k:mi>N</k:mi> </k:msup> </k:math> fields takes the vacuum value. Because of the compacton nature of solutions, <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <m:mi>Q</m:mi> </m:math> -shells can shelter another compact <o:math xmlns:o="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <o:mi>Q</o:mi> </o:math> -ball or <q:math xmlns:q="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <q:mi>Q</q:mi> </q:math> -shell within their hollow region. Even if compactons do not overlap, they can interact through the electromagnetic field. We investigate how the size of multicompacton formations is affected by electric charge, with a focus on structures with nonzero or zero total net charge.