Related papers: Some aspects of defect theory in spacetime
A key challenge for many quantum gravity approaches is to construct states that describe smooth geometries on large scales. Here we define a family of $(2+1)$-dimensional quantum gravity states which arise from curvature excitations…
We consider quantum phase transitions with global symmetry breakings that result in the formation of topological defects. We evaluate the number densities of kinks, vortices, and monopoles that are produced in $d=1,2,3$ spatial dimensions…
In the spherically symmetric case the requirements of regularity of density and pressures and finiteness of the ADM mass $m$, together with the weak energy condition, define the family of asymptotically flat globally regular solutions to…
This is a survey article for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, 2nd Edition. Topological defects are described in the context of the 2-dimensional Ising model on the lattice, in 2-dimensional quantum field theory, in topological…
We study topological defects with a general structure in higher-dimensional cosmological backgrounds described by a set of angle deficit parameters. As special cases, they include higher-dimensional generalizations of cosmic strings and…
We sketch the construction of a quantum model of 3 dimensional de Sitter space, based on the Covariant Entropy Principle and the observation that semi-classical physics suggests the possibility of a consistent theory of a finite number of…
Topological defects such as cosmic strings may have been formed at early-universe phase transitions. Direct tests of this idea are impossible, but the mechanism can be elucidated by studying analogous processes in low-temperature…
A exact de Sitter-like cosmological solution of quadratic gravitation with torsion has been found. In the limit of constant energy and pressure, it becomes a exact de Sitter spacetime. It exists in a wide class of quadratic gravity theories…
In this manuscript, we show that three fundamental building blocks are supporting the Cosmological Principle. The first of them states that there is a special frame in the universe where the spatial geometry is intrinsically homogeneous and…
In the framework of the recently proposed models of massive gravity, defined with respect to a de Sitter reference metric, we obtain new homogeneous and isotropic solutions for arbitrary cosmological matter and arbitrary spatial curvature.…
We formulate a topological theory in six dimensions with gauge group SO(3,3) which reduces to gravity on a four dimensional defect if suitable boundary conditions are chosen. In such a framework we implement the reflection automorphism of…
Current theories of particle physics lead to the unavoidable conclusion that there must have been several phase transitions in the early universe. Further, in the context of these theories, it is possible that cosmological phase transitions…
We argue that standard tools of holography can be used to describe fully non-perturbative microscopic models of cosmology in which a period of accelerated expansion may result from the positive potential energy of time-dependent scalar…
Three-dimensional warped anti-de Sitter space in topologically massive gravity with a negative cosmological constant has been proposed to be holographically dual to a two-dimensional conformal field theory. We extend this proposal to both…
The problems encountered in trying to quantize the various cosmological models, are brought forward by means of a concrete example. The Automorphism groups are revealed as the key element through which G.C.T.'s can be used for a general…
Defects are a ubiquitous feature of ordered media. They have certain universal features, independent of the underlying physical system, reflecting their topological origins. While the topological properties of defects are robust, they…
We construct, in classical two-time physics, the necessary structure for the most general configuration space formulation of quantum mechanics containing gravity in d+2 dimensions. This structure is composed of a symmetric Riemannian metric…
We study how topological defects manifest themselves in the equal-time two-point field correlator. We consider a scalar field with Z_2 symmetry in 1, 2 and 3 spatial dimensions, allowing for kinks, domain lines and domain walls,…
According to Belinsky, Khalatnikov and Lifshitz, gravity near a space-like singularity reduces to a set of decoupled one-dimensional mechanical models at each point in space. We point out that these models fall into a class of conformal…
Topological defects attract much recent interest in high-energy and condensed matter physics because they encode (non-invertible) symmetries and dualities. We study codimension-1 topological defects from a hamiltonian point of view, with…