Related papers: Electroweak axion string and superconductivity
We show that the minimal supergravity extension of the standard model automatically contains topologically stable electroweak strings if the hidden sector is invariant under the exact R-symmetry. These defects appear in the form of the…
We review a class of non-topological defects in the standard electroweak model, and their implications. Starting with the semilocal string, which provides a counterexample to many well known properties of topological vortices, we discuss…
We consider the cosmological consequences of a network of superconducting cosmic strings. For strong enough current the period of friction domination never ends. Instead a plasma scaling solution is reached. We demonstrate that this gives…
We study the quantum stabilization of a cosmic string by a heavy fermion doublet in a reduced version of the standard model. We show that charged strings, obtained by populating fermionic bound state levels, become stable if the…
We describe different electroweak strings with axionic content, including non-topological configurations calculated numerically, and show their possible influence on baryogenesis indicating that they may constitute a mechanism competitive…
Understanding axion cosmology has important experimental consequences since it constrains the range of allowed values for the axion mass. In the standard thermal scenario, which assumes Peccei-Quinn symmetry restoration after inflation, an…
We study the stability of superconducting strings in a U(1)_{local} x U(1)_{global} model coupled via a gauge field interaction term to U(1) Abelian-Higgs strings. The effect of the interaction on current stability is numerically…
Axions, periodic scalar fields coupled to gauge fields through the instanton density, have a rich variety of higher-form global symmetries. These include a two-form global symmetry, which measures the charge of axion strings. As we review,…
We investigate the behaviour of the bosonic string on AdS3 with H-flux at stringy scales, looking in particular for a `tensionless' limit in which there are massless higher spin gauge fields. We do this by revisiting the physical spectrum…
Z-strings in the Weinberg-Salam model including fermions are unstable for all values of the parameters. The cause of this instability is the fermion vacuum energy in the Z-string background. Z-strings with non-zero fermion densities,…
I report on a critical analysis of the scenario of electroweak baryogenesis mediated by nonsuperconducting cosmic strings. This mechanism relies upon electroweak symmetry restoration in a region around cosmic strings, where sphalerons would…
Extensions of the Standard Model with extra neutral currents due to additional anomalous abelian gauge factors are considered. We summarize the main features of the effective action associated to these theories. They are characterized by an…
In this paper, we investigate the fermionic current densities induced by a magnetic flux running along the idealized cosmic string in a four-dimensional spacetime, admitting that the coordinate along the string's axis is compactified. In…
When axionic strings carry a global charge, domain walls bounded by such strings may not be allowed to decay completely. This happens in particular in some models where a composite axion-like particle is the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of…
We uncover a rich microphysical structure for SO(10) cosmic strings. For the abelian string the electroweak symmetry is restored around it in a region depending on the electroweak scale. A rich structure of nonabelian strings is found. Some…
The stability of fermionic charge carriers on cosmic strings is considered. We show that neutral fermion currents in cosmic strings are always chiral or time-like, in contrast to the case of bosonic currents. The spectrum of bound states on…
We show that axion phenomenology may be significantly different than conventionally assumed in theories which exhibit late phase transitions (below the QCD scale). In such theories one can find multiple pseudoscalars with axion-like…
We show that axions can be produced from Abelian-Higgs cosmic strings due to the axion-gauge coupling. The strong magnetic field is confined in the string, and the electric field is induced around the moving string, allowing axion…
A model of a straight superconducting global cosmic string is examined in a setting wherein the string supports a charge/current pulse described by a travelling wave along the string. Linearized field equations are obtained for fluctuations…
Cold dark matter axions produced in the post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scenario serve as clear targets for their experimental detection, since it is in principle possible to give a sharp prediction for their mass once we…