Related papers: Low-Lying Cosmic String Spectrum and Background Fi…
We present a critical review and summary of String Gas Cosmology. We include a pedagogical derivation of the effective action starting from string theory, emphasizing the necessary approximations that must be invoked. Working in the…
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 vortex-strings in four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(Nc)xU(1) gauge theories with Nf hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation of SU(Nc) and general U(1) charges. If Nf>Nc, the vacuum is not gapped and the low-energy…
Whilst standard field theoretic Cosmic Strings cannot end, Cosmic Superstrings can form three string junctions, at which each string ends. This opens up a new class of possible boundary conditions for such strings and we show that, at least…
We discuss the possibility of a smooth transition from the pre- to the post-big bang regime, in the context of the lowest-order string effective action (without higher-derivative corrections), taking into account with a phenomenological…
There are two cases where QCD string is described by an effective theory of long strings: the static potential and meson scattering amplitudes in the Regge regime. I show how the former can be solved in the mean-field approximation,…
We explore the formation of cosmic string Y-junctions when strings of two different types collide, which has recently become important since string theory can yield cosmic strings of distinct types. Using a model containing two types of…
We briefly review certain aspects of cosmic microwave background anisotropies as generated in passive and active models of structure formation. We then focus on cosmic strings based models and discuss their status in the light of current…
An important unsolved problem that affects practically all attempts to connect string theory to cosmology and phenomenology is how to distinguish effective field theories belonging to the string landscape from those that are not consistent…
The Cosmological Constant Problem is re-examined from an effective field theory perspective. While the connection between gravity and particle physics has not been experimentally probed in the quantum regime, it is severely constrained by…
${\rm B - L}$ cosmic strings form in a wide class of theories beyond the Standard Model which contain a ${\rm U}(1)_{{\rm B - L}}$ gauge symmetry. They can form at the end of hybrid inflation and explain, together with inflation, the Cosmic…
We investigate the low energy physics implications of a prototype quasi-realistic superstring model with an anomalous U(1). First, we present the techniques utilized to compute the mass spectrum and superpotential couplings at the string…
In this paper we consider an inflating universe with long straight cosmic string along z-axis. We show that the effect of cosmic string can be taken as a perturbation on the background of FRW metric. Then by doing cosmological perturbations…
The string theory swampland proposes that there is no UV-completion for an effective field theory with an exact (metastable) de Sitter vacua, thereby ruling out standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology if the conjecture is taken seriously. The…
The Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) from cosmic superstrings offers one of the few known possibilities to test String Theory within current experimental reach. However, in order to be compatible with the existing…
We study cosmologies based on low-energy effective string theory with higher-order string corrections to a tree-level action and with a modulus scalar field (dilaton or compactification modulus). In the presence of such corrections it is…
We motivate a relation between dark energy and the scale of new physics in weakly coupled string theory. This mixing between infrared and ultraviolet physics leads to a unique corner for real-world phenomenology: barring fine-tunings, we…
The tachyonic instability of the open bosonic string is analyzed using the level truncation approach to string field theory. We have calculated all terms in the cubic action of the string field theory describing zero-momentum interactions…
The effective field theory of cosmological perturbations stems from considering a cosmological background solution as a state displaying spontaneous breaking of time translations and (adiabatic) perturbations as the related Nambu-Goldstone…
We compute the stochastic gravitational wave background generated by cosmic superstrings using a semi-analytical velocity-dependent model to describe their dynamics. We show that heavier string types may leave distinctive signatures on the…