Related papers: Unconventional string-like singularities in flat s…
Key issues of classical and quantum strings in gravitational plane waves, shock waves and spacetime singularities are synthetically understood. This includes the string mass and mode number excitations, energy-momentum tensor, scattering…
Two dimensional classical string theory is solved in any curved spacetime. The complete spacetime required to describe the classical string motions turns out to be larger than the global space required by complete particle geodesics. The…
Recent progress on the complete set of solutions of two dimensional classical string theory in any curved spacetime is reviewed. When the curvature is smooth the string solutions are deformed folded string solutions as compared to flat…
String theory is a quantum theory that reproduces the results of General Relativity at long distances but is completely different at short distances. Mathematically, string theory is based on a very new -- and little understood -- framework…
We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…
Spin networks, the quantum states of discrete geometry in loop quantum gravity, are directed graphs whose links are labeled by irreducible representations of SU(2), or spins. Cosmic strings are 1-dimensional topological defects carrying…
We construct cosmological spacetimes with null Kasner-like singularities as purely gravitational solutions with no other background fields turned on. These can be recast as anisotropic plane-wave spacetimes by coordinate transformations. We…
Flat directions are a generic feature of the scalar potential in supersymmetric gauge field theories. They can arise, for example, from D-terms associated with an extra abelian gauge symmetry. Even when supersymmetry is broken softly, there…
A basic problem in gravitational physics is the resolution of spacetime singularities where general relativity breaks down. The simplest such singularities are conical singularities arising from orbifold identifications of flat space, and…
The initial data of the gravitational field produced by a loop thick string is considered. We show that a thick loop is not a geodesic on the initial hypersurface, while a loop conical singularity is. This suggests that there is the ``{\it…
I present a class of objects called gravitational strings (GS) for their similarity to the conventional cosmic strings: even though the former are just singularities in flat spacetime, both varieties are equally "realistic", they may play…
Cosmic strings, as topological spacetime defects, show striking resemblance to defects in solid continua: distortions, which can be classified into disclinations and dislocations, are line-like defects characterized by a delta…
Differential properties of Klein-Gordon and electromagnetic fields on the space-time of a straight cosmic string are studied with the help of methods of the differential space theory. It is shown that these fields are smooth in the interior…
An interpretation of spacelike singularities in string theory uses target space duality to relate the collapsing Schwarzschild geometry near the singularity to an inflationary cosmology in dual variables. An appealing picture thus results…
We study string propagation in a spacetime with positive cosmological constant, which includes a circle whose radius approaches a finite value as |t|\to\infty, and goes to zero at t=0. Near this cosmological singularity, the spacetime looks…
We consider thorny spheres, that is 2-dimensional compact surfaces which are everywhere locally isometric to a round sphere $S^2$ except for a finite number of isolated points where they have conical singularities. We use thorny spheres to…
In a general superstring vacuum configuration, the `internal' space (sector) varies in spacetime. When this variation is non-trivial only in two space-like dimensions, the vacuum contains static cosmic strings with finite energy per unit…
Resolution of cosmological singularities is an important problem in any full theory of quantum gravity. The Milne orbifold is a cosmology with a big-bang/big-crunch singularity, but being a quotient of flat space it holds potential for…
Our results concern the transition of a quantum string through the singularity of the compactified Milne (CM) space. We restrict our analysis to the string winding around the compact dimension (CD) of spacetime. The CD undergoes contraction…
In a universe whose elementary constituents are point particles there does not seem to be any obvious mechanism for avoiding the initial singularities in physical quantities in the standard model of cosmology. In contrast in string theory…