Related papers: Models for Small-Scale Structure on Cosmic Strings…
Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in GUT-scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings…
The properties of string networks at scales well below the horizon are poorly understood, but they enter critically into many observables. We argue that in some regimes, stretching will be the only relevant process governing the evolution.…
The canonical velocity-dependent one-scale (VOS) model for cosmic string evolution contains a number of free parameters which cannot be obtained ab initio. Therefore it must be calibrated using high resolution numerical simulations. We…
We present a method for the introduction of small-scale structure into strings constructed from products of rotation matrices. We use this method to illustrate a range of possibilities for the shape of cusps that depends on the properties…
We examine the compatibility between the one scale model with friction for the evolution of cosmic string networks with the Kibble mechanism for string network formation during a second order phase transition. We find a regime which…
We provide a general overview of the velocity-dependent one-scale model for cosmic string evolution and discuss two further extensions to it. We introduce and justify a new ansatz for the momentum parameter $k$, and also incorporate the…
It has recently been realised that strings with time-dependent tensions exhibit interesting dynamics; in particular, when the tension decreases loops of string can grow and possibly percolate. We extend previous analytic studies of strings…
We investigate some classical aspects of fundamental strings via numerical experiments. In particular, we study the thermodynamics of a string network within a toroidal universe, as a function of string energy density and space…
Planck data have been used to provide stringent new constraints on cosmic strings and other defects. We describe forecasts of the CMB power spectrum induced by cosmic strings, calculating these from network models and simulations using…
We study the production of loops in the cosmic string network in the expanding background by means of a numerical simulation exact in the flat-spacetime limit and first-order in the expansion rate. We find an initial regime characterized by…
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 investigate the properties of global cosmic string networks as a function of the ratio of string tension to Goldstone-field coupling, and as a function of the Hubble damping strength. Our results show unambiguously that the string…
We obtain the equations of motion for cosmic strings in extensions of the 3+1 FRW model with extra dimensions. From these we derive a generalisation of the Velocity-dependent One-Scale (VOS) model for cosmic string network evolution which…
We perform the first numerical simulations of necklaces in a non-Abelian gauge theory. Necklaces are composite classical solutions which can be interpreted as monopoles trapped on strings, rather generic structures in a Grand Unified…
We develop velocity-dependent models describing the evolution of string networks that involve several types of interacting strings, each with a different tension. These incorporate the formation of Y-type junctions with links stretching…
In this paper, we present results for large-angle CMB anisotropies generated from high resolution simulations of cosmic string networks in a range of flat FRW universes with a cosmological constant. Using an ensemble of all-sky maps, we…
The thin string limit of Cosmic Strings is investigated using a description in terms of Colombeau's theory of nonlinear generalised functions. It is shown that in this description the energy-momentum tensor has a well defined thin string…
We investigate the effect of wiggly cosmic strings on the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy and matter power spectrum by modifying the string network model used by Albrecht et al.. We employ the wiggly equation of state for…
We discuss some hitherto puzzling features of the small-scale structure of cosmic strings. We argue that kinks play a key role, and that an important quantity to study is their sharpness distribution. In particular we suggest that for very…
We extend and develop our previous work on the evolution of a network of cosmic strings. The new treatment is based on an analysis of the probability distribution of the end-to-end distance of a randomly chosen segment of left-moving string…