Related papers: On the Collision of Cosmic Superstrings
I use a combination of state-of-the-art numerical simulations and analytic modelling to discuss the scaling properties of cosmic defect networks, including superstrings. Particular attention is given to the role of extra degrees of freedom…
Three-String junctions are allowed configurations in II B string theory which preserve one-fourth supersymmetry. We obtain the 11-dimensional supergravity solution for curved membranes corresponding to these three-string junctions.
In these lectures I discuss the possibility that superstrings of cosmic length might exist and be observable. I first review the original idea of cosmic strings arising as gauge theory solitons, and discuss in particular their network…
In this paper we calculate the radio burst signals from three kinds of structures of superconducting cosmic strings. By taking into account the observational factors including scattering and relativistic effects, we derive the event rate of…
Cosmic strings provide a radically different paradigm for the formation of structure to the prevailing inflationary one. They afford some extra technical complications: for example, the calculation of the power spectrum of matter and…
We study junctions between confining strings. We show that the effective theory of such junctions is very predictive with only one new parameter, the junction's mass, controlling the first couple of terms in the expansion in the system…
We examine the leading order corrections to the Nambu effective action for the motion of a cosmic string, which appear at fourth order in the ratio of the width to radius of curvature of the string. We determine the numerical coefficients…
Cosmic strings, a hot subject in the 1980's and early 1990's, lost its appeal when it was found that it leads to inconsistencies in the power spectrum of the measured cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. However,…
Cosmic superstring loops within the galaxy microlens background point sources lying close to the observer-string line of sight. For suitable alignments, multiple paths coexist and the (achromatic) flux enhancement is a factor of two. We…
We report the first observation of multiple intercommutation (more than two successive reconnections) of cosmic strings at ultra-high collision speeds, and the formation of ``kink trains'' with up to four closely spaced left- or…
In supersymmetric theories, topological defects can have nontrivial behaviors determined purely by whether or not supersymmetry is restored in the defect core. A well-known example of this is that some supersymmetric cosmic strings are…
The gravitational wave (GW) signals emitted by a network of cosmic strings are reexamined in view of the possible formation of a network of cosmic superstrings at the end of brane inflation. The reconnection probability $p$ of intersecting…
In General Relativity, cosmic strings are well known to produce a static, locally flat spacetime with a wedge removed. If the tension exceeds a critical value, the deficit angle becomes larger than $ 2\pi $, leading to a compact exterior…
The spectrum of $(p,q)$ bound states of F- and D-strings has a distinctive square-root tension formula that is hoped to be a hallmark of fundamental cosmic strings. We point out that the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) bound for…
We study the structure of cosmic strings produced at the breaking of an anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry present in many superstring compactification models. We show that their coupling with the axion necessary in order to cancel the anomalies…
We investigate cosmic strings arising from a hierarchical gauge symmetry breaking sequence, $\mathrm{SU}(2) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1)' \rightarrow \text{Nothing}$. This…
Motivated by astrophysical observations of excess electronic production in the galaxy, new theoretical models of the dark matter sector have been proposed in which the Standard model couples to the dark matter sector through an attractive…
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…
We simulate the formation of cosmic strings at the zeros of a complex Gaussian field with a power spectrum $P(k) \propto k^n$, specifically addressing the issue of the fraction of length in infinite strings. We make two improvements over…
In recent work, globally well-defined Type IIB supergravity solutions with geometry $AdS_6 \times S^2$ warped over a Riemann surface $\Sigma$ were constructed and conjectured to describe the near-horizon geometry of $(p,q)$ five-brane webs…