Related papers: Astrophysical Bounds on Global Strings
Within two specific string cosmology scenarios --differing in the way the pre- and post-big bang phases are joined-- we compute the size and spectral slope of various types of cosmologically amplified quantum fluctuations that arise in…
Topological structure has been extensively studied and confirmed in highly correlated condensed matter physics. We explore the gravitational waves emitted from binary neutron star mergers using the pseudoconformal model for dense nuclear…
In these lectures we review the constraints on particle physics models arising from cosmic defects. This includes constraints on theories where stable cosmic string loops, or vortons result. These can arise in supersymmetric theories. We…
Anisotropic stress contributions to the gravitational field can arise from magnetic fields, collisionless relativistic particles, hydrodynamic shear viscosity, gravitational waves, skew axion fields in low-energy string cosmologies, or…
String theory suggests modifications of our spacetime such as extra dimensions and the existence of a mininal length scale. In models with addidional dimensions, the Planck scale can be lowered to values accessible by future colliders.…
String theory counterparts to Einstein's gravity, cosmology and inflation are described. A very tight upper bound on the Cosmic Gravitational Radiation Background (CGRB) of standard inflation is shown to be evaded in string cosmology, while…
We investigate the implications of the nontrivial vacuum structure of little Higgs models. In particular, focusing on the littlest Higgs model, we demonstrate the existence of three types of topological defects. One is a global cosmic…
Currently, string theory represents the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. In spite of the more than thirty years of its existence it did not make any empirically testable predictions. And it is…
Predicting signatures of string theory on cosmological observables is not sufficient. Often the observable effects string theory may impact upon the cosmological arena may equally be predicted by features of inflationary physics. The…
We investigate some consequences of a specific non-conservation of the energy-momentum tensor on the physics of certain cosmic string configurations. This non-conservation is induced by a new gravitational theory recently introduced as an…
We describe a rigorous construction, using matched asymptotic expansions, which establishes under very general conditions that local terrestrial and solar-system experiments will measure the effects of varying `constants' of Nature…
We comment on the relation between string theory and empirical science, grounding our discussion in cosmology, a subject with increasingly precise data in which this connection operates at several levels. It is important to take into…
Cosmic strings can give rise to a large variety of interesting astrophysical phenomena. Among them, powerful bursts of gravitational waves (GWs) produced by cusps are a promising observational signature. In this Letter we present a search…
The standard cosmological model supposes that the dominant matter component changes in the course of the evolution of the universe. We study the homogeneous and isotropic universe with non-zero cosmological constant in the epoch when the…
We constrain the cosmological density of cosmic string loops using two observational signatures -- gravitational microlensing and the Kaiser-Stebbins effect. Photometry from RXTE and CoRoT space missions and pulsar timing from Parkes Pulsar…
In the modified measure formulation the string tension appear as an additional dynamical degree of freedom and these tensions are not universal, but rather each string generates its own tension, which can have a different value for each…
We calculate the ``seeing'' effect on distant sources due to a gravitational wave background. We derive the limit in strain and energy density of the gravitational wave based on the limit of detectability of this effect with the present day…
We study cosmic Nielsen-Olesen strings in space-times with a positive cosmological constant. For the free cosmic string in a cylindrically symmetric space-time, we calculate the contribution of the cosmological constant to the angle…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that may be formed at phase transitions in the very early universe. At one time they were thought to provide a possible origin for the density inhomogeneities from which galaxies eventually…
We put robust upper limits on the average cosmological density \Omega_s of cosmic strings based on the variability properties of a large homogeneous sample of SDSS quasars. We search for an excess of characteristic variations of quasar…