Related papers: P-term Strings and Semi-local Strings

We investigate the behaviour of a model with two oppositely charged scalar fields. In the Bogomol'nyi limit this may be seen as the scalar sector of N=1 supersymmetric QED, and it has been shown that cosmic strings form. We examine…

We derive the Bogomol'nyi equations for supersymmetric Abelian F-term cosmic strings in four-dimensional flat space and show that, contrary to recent statements in the literature, they are BPS states in the Bogomol'nyi limit, but the…

We review recent simulations of the formation of a particular class of non-topological defects known as semilocal strings during a phase transition. Semilocal strings have properties that are intermediate between topological cosmic strings…

It has been pointed out that cosmic string solutions can exist in gauge field theories with broken symmetry even when $\pi _1(G/H)$ is trivial. The stability of such semilocal defects is not guaranteed by topology and depends on dynamical…

Macroscopic fundamental and Dirichlet strings have several potential instabilities: breakage, tachyon decays, and confinement by axion domain walls. We investigate the conditions under which metastable strings can exist, and we find that…

Cosmic strings in realistic particle physics models have fermion zero modes in the string core. Such zero modes change the underlying cosmology; for example, the string can carry a current. We consider the stability of fermion zero modes to…

We study the cosmological constant problem in a three-dimensional N=2 supergravity theory with gauge group SU[2]_{global}xU[1]_{local}. The model we consider is known to admit string-like configurations, the so-called semi-local cosmic…

Semilocal strings -- a particular limit of electroweak strings -- are an interesting example of a stable non-topological defect whose properties resemble those of their topological cousins, the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortices. There is,…

We consider a toroidal configuration of cosmic string in 3+1 dimensions in an abelian Higgs model, a compactification of the Nielsen-Olesen string. This object is classically unstable. We explicitly compute the number of permitted zero…

We report on a large scale numerical study of networks of semilocal cosmic strings in flat space in the parameter regime in which they are perturbatively stable. We find a population of segments with an exponential length distribution and…

Chiral cosmic strings naturally arise in many particle physics models, in particular in supersymmetric theories with a D-term. These strings have a single fermion zero mode in the core. We derive the general equation of motion for such…

Axionic cosmic string solutions are investigated in a superstring motivated model with a pseudo-anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry. The inclusion of a gauge field and spatially varying dilaton allow local defect solutions with finite energy per…

Grand unified theories can admit cosmic strings with fermion zero modes. Such zero modes result in the string being current-carrying and the formation of stable remnants, vortons. However, the string zero modes do not automaticall survive…

We present investigations of lens phenomenological properties of cosmic strings for deep galaxy surveys. General results that have obtained for lineic energy distribution are presented first. We stress that generically the local convergence…

We discuss cosmic Nielsen-Olesen strings in space-times endowed with a positive cosmological constant. For the cylindrically symmetric, static free cosmic string, we discuss the contribution of the cosmological constant to the angle…

Recent developments in string theory suggest that cosmic strings could be formed at the end of brane inflation. Supergravity provides a realistic model to study the properties of strings arising in brane inflation. Whilst the properties of…

A variation on the abelian Higgs model, with global SU(2) x local U(1) symmetry broken to global U(1) was recently shown by Vachaspati and Achucarro to admit stable, finite energy cosmic string solutions even though the manifold of minima…

Local cosmic strings solutions are introduced in a model with a pseudo-anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry. Such a symmetry is present in many superstring compactification models. The coupling of those strings with the axion necessary in order to…

Flat directions are a generic feature of the scalar potential in supersymmetric gauge field theories. They can arise, for example, from D-terms associated with an extra abelian gauge symmetry. Even when supersymmetry is broken softly, there…

The stability of fermionic charge carriers on cosmic strings is considered. We show that neutral fermion currents in cosmic strings are always chiral or time-like, in contrast to the case of bosonic currents. The spectrum of bound states on…