Related papers: Cosmology from Topological Defects
If current ideas about unified field theories are correct, macroscopic cosmic defects may well exist. The observation of such an entity would have enormous significance for our understanding of fundamental physics. This paper points out a…
We discuss the possible dynamical role of extended cosmic defects on galactic scales, specifically focusing on the possibility that they may provide the dark matter suggested by the classical problem of galactic rotation curves. We…
We consider a network of topological defects which can partly decay into neutrinos, photons, baryons, or Cold Dark Matter. We find that the degree-scale amplitude of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies as well as the shape of…
Rapid progress has been made in observations of the temperature anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). These observations have enabled cosmologists to characterize the state of the universe at recombination, and…
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…
I present a briefly summary of the current status of inflationary models versus topological defects scenarios, as the mechanisms which could have induced the initial density perturbations, which left an imprint on the cosmic microwave…
Topological defects are found in a variety of systems, and their existence are robust under perturbations due to their topological nature. Here we introduce a new type of topological defects found in electromagnetic waves: topological spin…
In this paper we will discuss how cosmic strings can be used to bridge the gap between the local geometry of our spacetime model and the global topology. The primary tool is the theory of foliations and surfaces, and together with…
Topological defects may play the role of the curvatons. We propose a new mechanism of generating density perturbations from cosmological defects in inflationary models. We show several examples in which defects play crucial role in…
We investigate cosmological structure formation seeded by topological defects which may form during a phase transition in the early universe. First we derive a partially new, local and gauge invariant system of perturbation equations to…
We study particle decay as the origin of dark radiation. After elaborating general properties and useful parametrisations we provide model-independent and easy-to-use constraints from nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background and…
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,…
Using the propagation of ultra high energy nucleons, photons and electrons in the universal radiation backgrounds, we obtain limits on the luminosity of topological defects scenarios for the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. The…
Doppler peaks in the cosmic microwave background may allow us to distinguish among the two classes of theories-inflationary models and topological defect scenarios-which attempt to explain the origin of structure formation in the universe.…
The proposed CMBPol mission will be able to detect the imprint of topological defects on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provided the contribution is sufficiently strong. We quantify the detection threshold for cosmic strings and for…
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…
As a hypothetical topological defect in the geometry of spacetime, vortex strings play a crucial role in shaping the clusters of galaxies that exist today, and their distinct features can provide observable clues about the early universe's…
We propose schemes for the detection of topological defect dark matter using pulsars and other luminous extraterrestrial systems via non-gravitational signatures. The dark matter field, which makes up a defect, may interact with standard…
Cosmological constant a.k.a. dark energy problem is considered to be one major challenge in modern cosmology. Here we present a model where large scale structure formation causes spatially-flat FRW universe to fragment into numerous `FRW…
The cosmic string theory for cosmological fluctuations is a good example of healthy scientific progress in cosmology. It is a well defined physically motivated model that has been tested by cosmological observations and has been ruled out…