Related papers: Formation, Interaction and Observation of Topologi…
The scenario of a cosmology with topological defects is surveyed starting from the field theoretic aspects and ending with a description of large-scale structure formation and magnetic field generation. (Lectures delivered at ICTP, Trieste,…
Topological defects are involved in a plethora of physical and astrophysical phenomena. In these lectures, I will review the r\^ ole they could play in the large-scale structure formation and the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave…
A (very) brief review of topological defects and their possible cosmic roles. I emphasize in particular that superheavy defects needed for structure formation can peacefully coexist with inflation, despite the claims to the contrary which…
Current theories of particle physics lead to the unavoidable conclusion that there must have been several phase transitions in the early universe. Further, in the context of these theories, it is possible that cosmological phase transitions…
Within the context of first order phase transitions in the early universe, we study the influence of a coupling between the (global U(1)) scalar driving the transition and the rest of the matter content of the theory. The effect of the…
This work contains a set of lectures on defect structures, mainly in models described by scalar fields in diverse dimensions.
Classical defects (monopoles, vortices, etc.) are a characteristic consequence of many phase transitions of quantum fields. Most likely these include transitions in the early universe and such defects would be expected to be present in the…
Topological defects are singularities in material fields that play a vital role across a range of systems: from cosmic microwave background polarization to superconductors, and biological materials. Although topological defects and their…
We study the interplay of topological excitations in stripe phases: charge dislocations, charge loops, and spin vortices. In two dimensions these defects interact logarithmically on large distances. Using a renormalization-group analysis in…
We study random bubble lattices which can be produced by processes such as first order phase transitions, and derive characteristics that are important for understanding the percolation of distinct varieties of bubbles. The results are…
We study the formation of topological defects in nonequilibrium phase transitions of both classical and quantum field theory. We examine three model systems. 1). The phase transition of a quantum scalar field in a FRW universe is analyzed…
Defects are a useful tool in the study of quantum field theories. This is illustrated in the example of two-dimensional conformal field theories. We describe how defect lines and their junction points appear in the description of symmetries…
The dynamics of phase transitions plays a crucial r\^ole in the so-called interface between high energy particle physics and cosmology. Many of the interesting results generated during the last fifteen years or so rely on simplified…
Modern cosmology has created a tight link between particle physics / field theory and a wealth of new observational data on the structure of the Universe. These lecture notes focus on some of the most important aspects concerning the…
We shall show that the density of defects produced at a second-order phase transition is determined by the correlation length of the fields. This is true both for defects appearing in the Ginzburg regime and for defects produced at a…
Galaxy formation is at the forefront of observation and theory in cosmology. An improved understanding is essential for improving our knowledge both of the cosmological parameters, of the contents of the universe, and of our origins. In…
The constraints on the models for the structure formation arising from various cosmological observations at different length scales are reviewed. The status of different models for structure formation is examined critically in the light of…
We introduce the theoretical framework we use to study the bewildering variety of phases in condensed--matter physics. We emphasize the importance of the breaking of symmetries, and develop the idea of an order parameter through several…
These lectures review certain topological defects and aspects of their cosmology. Unconventional material includes brief descriptions of electroweak defects, the structure of domain walls in non-Abelian theories, and the spectrum of…
The microscopic model in which nodes interacting with each other are statistical systems is introduced. The nodes conditions are connected with a string of distinct microscopic configurations and depend on external parameters (pressure and…