Related papers: Fireballs from Superconducting Cosmic Strings
Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…
It has been speculated that cosmic string networks could produce ultra-high energy cosmic rays as a by-product of their evolution. By making use of recent work on the evolution of such networks, it will be shown that the flux of cosmic rays…
It is shown that the fusion of strings is a source of particle production in nucleus--nucleus collisions outside the kinematical limits of nucleon--nucleon collisions. This fact, together with another effect of string fusion, the reduction…
Cusps of superconducting strings can serve as GRB engines. A powerful beamed pulse of electromagnetic radiation from a cusp produces a jet of accelerated particles, whose propagation is terminated by the shock responsible for GRB. A single…
Superconducting cosmic strings naturally emit highly boosted charge carriers from cusps. This occurs when a cosmic string or a loop moves through a magnetic field and develops an electric current. The charge carriers and the products of…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that may be formed at phase transitions in the very early universe. At one time they were thought to provide a possible origin for the density inhomogeneities from which galaxies eventually…
Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects which could have been formed in the early stages of our Universe. They triggered a lot of interest, mainly for their cosmological implications: they could offer an alternative to…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that form whenever phase transitions in the early universe break axial symmetries as originally shown by Kibble. They are the result of frustrated order in the quantum fields responsible…
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…
The time-dependent metric of a cosmic string leads to an effective interaction between the string and photons - the "gravitational Aharonov-Bohm" effect -- and causes cosmic strings to emit light. We evaluate the radiation of pairs of…
Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed as a result of phase transitions with a spontaneous symmetry breaking in the early Universe. The possibility of the generation of a magnetic field around a cosmic string on the…
Cosmic strings, a hot subject in the 1980's and early 1990's, lost its appeal when it was found that it leads to inconsistencies in the power spectrum of the measured cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. However,…
The formation of cusps on long cosmic strings is discussed and the probability of cusp formation is estimated. The energy distribution of the gamma-ray background due to cusp annihilation on long strings is calculated and compared to…
Gamma ray burst (GRB) fireballs provide one of very few astrophysical environments where one can contemplate the acceleration of cosmic rays to energies that exceed 10^20 eV. The assumption that GRBs are the sources of the observed cosmic…
The topological defect scenario of origin of the observed highest energy cosmic rays is reviewed. Under a variety of circumstances, topological defects formed in the early Universe can be sources of very massive particles in the Universe…
We give an upper estimate for the number of gamma ray bursts from ordinary (non-superconducting) cosmic strings expected to be observed at terrestrial detectors. Assuming that cusp annihilation is the mechanism responsible for the bursts we…
It was reported by R. Tao and coworkers that in the presence of a strong electric field superconducting microparticles assemble into balls of macroscopic dimensions. Such a finding has potentially important implications for the…
It is possible that superstrings, as well as other one-dimensional branes, could have been produced in the early universe and then expanded to cosmic size today. I discuss the conditions under which this will occur, and the signatures of…
The order of magnitude of energy emission from cusps to light bosons on ordinary cosmic strings is calculated perturbatively. The analysis is applicable to both closed string loops and long cosmic strings. The perturbative result obtained…
Gamma ray bursts are among the most energetic events in the known universe. A highly relativistic fireball is ejected. In most cases the burst itself is followed by an afterglow, emitted under deceleration as the fireball plunges through…