Related papers: String Gas Cosmology and Non-Gaussianities
We put robust upper limits on the average cosmological density \Omega_s of cosmic strings based on the variability properties of a large homogeneous sample of SDSS quasars. We search for an excess of characteristic variations of quasar…
At early stages the dynamics of cosmic string networks is expected to be influenced by an excessive production of small loops at the scales of initial conditions l_{min}. To understand the late time behavior we propose a very simple…
In the modified measure formulation the string tension appear as an additional dynamical degree of freedom and these tensions are not universal, but rather each string generates its own tension, which can have a different value for each…
We investigate the possible effects on the evolution of perturbations in the inflationary epoch due to short distance physics. We introduce a suitable non local action for the inflaton field, suggested by Noncommutative Geometry, and…
Cosmic strings in non-abelian gauge theories naturally gain a spectrum of massless, or light, excitations arising from their embedding in color and flavor space. This opens up the possibility that colliding strings miss each other in the…
Axion fluctuations generated during inflation lead to isocurvature and non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Following a previous analysis for the model independent string axion we consider the…
If cosmological perturbations in our Hubble sized volume are nongaussian, then they will be coupled to any larger perturbation modes outside our Hubble volume. This has important consequences for modeling inflation: the scalar power…
We describe the results of high-resolution numerical simulations of string-induced structure formation in open universes and those with a non-zero cosmological constant. For models with $\Gamma = \Omega h = 0.1 - 0.2$ and a cold dark matter…
We study the spectrum of loops as a part of a complete network of cosmic strings in flat spacetime. After a long transient regime, characterized by production of small loops at the scale of the initial conditions, it appears that a true…
The string-dominated universe locally resembles an open universe, and fits dynamical measures of power spectra, cluster abundances, redshift distortions, lensing constraints, luminosity and angular diameter distance relations and microwave…
We discuss the cosmological evolution of cosmic strings with time-dependent tension. We show that, in the case that the tension changes as a power of time, the cosmic string network obeys the scaling solution: the characteristic scale of…
The epoch when the Universe had a temperature higher than a GeV is long before any time at which we have reliable observations constraining the cosmological evolution. For example, the occurrence of a second burst of inflation (sometimes…
We review the current observational status of string cosmology when confronted with experimental datasets. We begin by defining common observational parameters and discuss how they are determined for a given model. Then we review the…
I report on recent numerical simulations of the simplest field theory with cosmic string solutions, the Abelian Higgs model. We find that random networks of string quickly converge to a scaling solution in which the network scale length…
Non-linear gravitational clustering in a universe dominated by dark energy, modelled by a `quintessence' scalar field, and cold dark matter with space-time varying mass is studied. Models of this type, where the variable mass is induced by…
Cosmic strings are predicted in many models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In models which admit strings, a network of strings will inevitably be formed in a phase transition in the early universe and will persist to the…
Making use of the wealth of new observational data coming from the sky it is possible to constrain particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model. One way to do this is illustrated in this article: a subset of theories admits cosmic…
Employing the perturbative treatment of gravitational clustering, we discuss possible effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on the matter power spectrum. As gravitational clustering develops, the coupling between different Fourier modes of…
Gaussian cosmic microwave background skies are fully specified by the power spectrum. The conventional method of characterizing non-Gaussian skies is to evaluate higher order moments, the n-point functions and their Fourier transforms. We…
We study the deflection of light in the background of a "wiggly" cosmic string, and investigate whether it is possible to detect cosmic strings by means of weak gravitational lensing. For straight strings without small-scale structure there…