Related papers: Metastable strings at PTAs: classical stability an…
Metastable cosmic strings are a common prediction of grand unified theories and act as a source of a gravitational-wave background (GWB) that can explain the 2023 pulsar timing array (PTA) signal. In this paper, we revisit the GWB signal…
We show that a cosmic string associated with spontaneous $U(1)_R$ symmetry breaking gives a constraint for supersymmetric model building. In some models, the string can be viewed as a tube-like domain wall with a winding number…
We study the stability of supersymmetry breaking vacuum in the presence of cosmic strings arising in the messenger sector. For certain ranges of the couplings, the desired supersymmetry breaking vacua become unstable against decay into…
We systematically analyze the decay of metastable topological defects that arise from the spontaneous breakdown of gauge or global symmetries. Quantum-mechanical tunneling rates are estimated for a variety of decay processes. The decay rate…
We consider the phase transition of a string with tension $\eps_1$ to a string with a smaller tension $\eps_2$. The transition proceeds through quantum tunneling, and we calculate in arbitrary number of dimensions the pre-exponential factor…
We find a one-parameter family of long-lived physical string states in type II superstring theory. We compute the decay rate by an exact numerical evaluation of the imaginary part of the one-loop propagator. Remarkably, the lifetime rapidly…
The spontaneous breaking of $SO(10)$ grand unified symmetry to $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_\chi$ yields the GUT monopole as well as a comparably heavy $U(1)_\chi$ monopole which also carries $U(1)_Y$ flux. A metastable…
We investigate the stability of strings connecting charges Q in the representation {2Q+1} of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in (2+1) dimensions. While the fundamental {2}-string between two charges Q=1/2 is unbreakable and stable, the string…
In this paper we construct a string-like classical solution, the pion-string, in the linear sigma model. We then study the stability of the pion-string, and find that it is unstable in the parameter space allowed experimentally. We also…
It is becoming increasingly clear that metastable vacua may play a prominent role in supersymmetry-breaking. To date, however, this idea has been realized only in models where non-perturbative dynamics complicates the analysis of…
In this work, the current stability is discussed for cosmic strings with the bosonic superconductivity. A non-vanishing curvature of string generally induce the quantum instability of the current-carrying particle. Its decay rates are…
We argue that a generic instability afflicts vacua that arise in theories whose moduli space has large dimension. Specifically, by studying theories with multiple scalar fields we provide numerical evidence that for a generic local minimum…
A series of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) recently observed gravitational waves at the nanohertz frequencies. Motivated by this remarkable result, we present a novel class of Pati-Salam models that give rise to a network of metastable cosmic…
False vacuum decay typically proceeds via the nucleation of spherical bubbles of true vacuum, described by $O(4)$ symmetric field configurations in Euclidean time. In this work, we investigate how the presence of cosmic strings can catalyze…
In theories of supersymmetry breaking, it is often the case that there is more than one metastable vacuum. First-order phase transitions among such metastable vacua may generate a stochastic background of gravitational waves, the…
We present a general theory of classical metastability in open quantum systems. Metastability is a consequence of a large separation in timescales in the dynamics, leading to the existence of a regime when states of the system appear…
We study stabilization of an unstable cosmic string associated with spontaneously broken $U(1)_R$ symmetry, which otherwise causes a dangerous roll-over process. We demonstrate that in a gauge mediation model, messengers can receive enough…
Perturbative estimates suggest that extended topological defects such as cosmic strings emit few particles, but numerical simulations of the fields from which they are constructed suggest the opposite. In this paper we study the decay of…
In this paper we describe a new type of topological defect, called a homilia string, which is stabilized via interactions with the string network. Using analytical and numerical techniques, we investigate the stability and dynamics of…
We study the dynamics of a coherent state of closed type II string gravitons within the framework of the Steepest Entropy Ascent Quantum Thermodynamics, an effective model where the quantum evolution is driven by a maximal increase of…