Related papers: Topological Defects in Contracting Universes
We study the behaviour of cosmic string networks in contracting universes, and discuss some of their possible consequences. We note that there is a fundamental time asymmetry between defect network evolution for an expanding universe and a…
Cosmic strings are topological defects possibly formed in the early Universe, which may be observable due to their gravitational effects on the cosmic microwave background radiation or gravitational wave experiments. To this effect it is…
The topic of cosmic strings provides a bridge between the physics of the very small and the very large. They are predicted by some unified theories of particle interactions. If they exist, they may help to explain some of the largest-scale…
Cosmic (super)strings offer promising ways to test ideas about the early universe and physics at high energies. While in field theory constructions their tension is usually assumed to be constant (or at most slowly-varying), this is often…
Topological defects, in particular cosmic strings, give rise to an interesting mechanism for generating the primordial perturbations in the early Universe which are required to explain the present structure. An overview of the cosmic string…
We consider the evolution of a network of strings in an expanding universe, allowing for the formation of junctions between strings of different tensions. By explicitly including, in the velocity-dependent evolution equations for the…
Cosmic strings provide a radically different paradigm for the formation of structure to the prevailing inflationary one. They afford some extra technical complications: for example, the calculation of the power spectrum of matter and…
The dynamics of cosmic strings is considered in anisotropic backgrounds. In particular, the behaviour of infinitely long straight cosmic strings and of cosmic string loops is determined. Small perturbations of a straight cosmic string are…
The intersection of string theory with cosmology is unavoidable in the early universe, and its exploration may shine light on both fields. In this thesis, three papers at this intersection are presented and reviewed, with the aim of…
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 describe the detailed study and results of high-resolution numerical simulations of string-induced structure formation in open universes and those with a non-zero cosmological constant. The effect from small loops generated from the…
We investigate scaling and correlations of the energy and momentum in an evolving network of cosmic strings in Minkowski space. These quantities are of great interest, as they must be understood before accurate predictions for the power…
We review the properties and evolution of strings networks containing both a spectrum of string tensions as well as Y-junctions, namely a point at which three different strings meet. Such a situation is expected in cosmic superstring…
The string-dominated universe locally resembles an open universe, and fits dynamical measures of power spectra, cluster abundances, redshift distortions, lensing constraints, luminosity and angular diameter distance relations and microwave…
When the topology of the universe is non trivial, it has been shown that there are constraints on the network of domain walls, cosmic strings and monopoles. I generalize these results to textures and study the cosmological implications of…
The cosmic string scenario in an open universe is developed -- including the equations of motion, a model of network evolution, the large angular scale CMB temperature anisotropy, and the power spectrum of density fluctuations produced by…
Global topological defects produce nonzero stress-energy throughout spacetime, and as a result can have observable gravitational influence on surrounding matter. Gravitational effects of global strings are used to place bounds on their…
Recent work suggests that fundamental and Dirichlet strings, and their (p,q) bound states, may be observed as cosmic strings. The evolution of cosmic string networks, and therefore their observational signals, depends on what happens when…
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…
In supersymmetric theories, cosmic strings produced in the early Universe often have a width of TeV scale, while the tension is much larger. In a scaling regime, an infinite cosmic string releases significant fraction of its energy in the…