Related papers: Charge, domain walls and dark energy
The possibility that the energy density of the Universe is dominated by a network of low-tension domain walls provides an alternative to the commonly discussed cosmological constant and scalar-field quintessence models of dark energy. We…
Light scalar fields, with double well potentials and direct matter couplings, undergo density driven phase transitions, leading to the formation of domain walls. Such theories could explain dark energy, dark matter or source the nanoHz…
We consider a cosmogony with a dark matter component consisting of a network of frustrated domain walls. Such a network provides a solid dark matter component with $p=-(2/3)\rho $ that remains unclustered on small scales and with…
Topologically protected sheet-like surfaces, called domain walls, form when the potential of a field has a discrete symmetry that is spontaneously broken. Since this condition is commonplace in field theory, it is plausible that many of…
Discrete symmetry-breaking phase transitions in the early universe may have caused the formation of networks of sheet-like topological defects, usually referred to as domain walls, which separate regions that have settled into different…
A fluid of domain walls has an effective equation of state $p_w = - {2/3}\rho_w$. This equation of state is qualitativelly in agreement with the supernova type Ia observations. We exploit a cosmological model where the matter content is…
There is now strong evidence that the current energy density of the Universe is dominated by dark energy with an equation of state w<-1/3, which is causing accelerated expansion. The build-up of structure within such Universes is subject to…
We discuss necessary conditions for a network of cosmic domain walls to have a chance of providing the dark energy that might explain the recent acceleration of the universe. We derive a strong bound on the curvature of the walls, which…
We consider a model with two real scalar fields which admits phantom domain wall solutions. We investigate the structure and evolution of these phantom domain walls in an expanding homogeneous and isotropic universe. In particular, we show…
The observed `planes of satellites' around the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies are notoriously difficult to explain under the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. Here, we propose an alternative solution: domain walls arising in theories with…
We study domain walls which can be created in the Standard Model under the assumption that it is valid up to very high energy scales. We focus on domain walls interpolating between the physical electroweak vacuum and the global minimum…
A variety of observational tests seem to suggest that the universe is anisotropic. This is incompatible with the standard dogma based on adiabatic, rotationally invariant perturbations. We point out that this is a consequence of the…
We suggest that the current acceleration of the universe may be explained by the vacuum energy of a hidden sector which is stuck in a state of equilibrium between phases. The phases are associated to a late-time first-order phase…
We show that a system of a domain wall coupled to a scalar field has static negative energy density at certain distances from the domain wall. This system provides a simple, explicit example of violation of the averaged weak energy…
It is well known that, in the context of general relativity, an unknown kind of matter that must violate the strong energy condition is required to explain the current accelerated phase of expansion of the Universe. This unknown component…
Discrete symmetries are commonplace in field theoretical models but pose a severe problem for cosmology since they lead to the formation of domain walls during spontaneous symmetry breaking in the early universe. However if one of the…
Cosmological constant a.k.a. dark energy problem is considered to be one major challenge in modern cosmology. Here we present a model where large scale structure formation causes spatially-flat FRW universe to fragment into numerous `FRW…
Several experiments suggest that the charge carriers in the normal state of certain cuprate superconductors reside on domain walls. In an earlier paper, we suggested that several aspects of the anomalous dynamical behavior of these…
In this work we perform some studies related to dark energy. Firstly, we propose a dynamical approach to explain the dark energy content of the universe. We assume that a massless scalar field couples to the Hubble parameter with some…
We explore the properties of dark energy models for which the equation-of-state, w, defined as the ratio of pressure to energy density, crosses the cosmological-constant boundary w = -1. We adopt an empirical approach, treating the dark…