Related papers: Cosmic String Evolution in Higher Dimensions
The existence of a scaling evolution for cosmic string loops in an expanding universe is demonstrated for the first time by means of numerical simulations. In contrast with what is usually assumed, this result does not rely on any…
Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…
Brane inflation is a specific realization of the inflationary universe scenario in the early universe within the brane world framework in string theory. The naturalness and robustness of this realistic scenario is explained. Its predictions…
Whilst standard field theoretic Cosmic Strings cannot end, Cosmic Superstrings can form three string junctions, at which each string ends. This opens up a new class of possible boundary conditions for such strings and we show that, at least…
At its very beginning, the universe is believed to have grown exponentially in size via the mechanism of inflation. The almost scale-invariant density perturbation spectrum predicted by inflation is strongly supported by cosmological…
In string gas cosmology, extra dimensions are stabilised by a gas of strings. In the matter-dominated era, competition between matter pushing the extra dimensions to expand and the string gas pulling them back can lead to oscillations of…
We extend and develop our previous work on the evolution of a network of cosmic strings. The new treatment is based on an analysis of the probability distribution of the end-to-end distance of a randomly chosen segment of left-moving string…
Cosmic strings may have formed in the early universe due to the Kibble mechanism. While string networks are usually modeled as being of Nambu-Goto type, this description is understood to be a convenient approximation, which neglects the…
In General Relativity, cosmic strings are well known to produce a static, locally flat spacetime with a wedge removed. If the tension exceeds a critical value, the deficit angle becomes larger than $ 2\pi $, leading to a compact exterior…
We study the evolution of non-interacting and entangled cosmic string networks in the context of the velocity-dependent one-scale model. Such networks may be formed in several contexts, including brane inflation. We show that the frozen…
We perform the numerical field evolution for the collision of two Abelian type I cosmic strings. We present evidence that, for collisions at small but characteristic relative velocities and angles, these cosmic strings do not exchange ends…
In string gas cosmology, the extra dimensions of the underlying theory are kept at a microscopic scale by a gas of strings. In the matter-dominated era, however, dust pressure can lead to oscillations of the extra dimensions and to…
We study the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarisation spectra sourced by multi-tension cosmic superstring networks. First we obtain solutions for the characteristic length scales and velocities associated with the evolution…
Changing the dimensionality of the space-time at the smallest and largest distances has manifold theoretical advantages. If the space is lower dimensional in the high energy regime, then there are no ultraviolet divergencies in field…
We calculate the contribution of cosmic strings arising from a phase transition in the early universe, or cosmic superstrings arising from brane inflation, to the cosmic 21 cm power spectrum at redshifts z > 30. Future experiments can…
In the context of brane world scenario, cosmic superstrings can be formed in D-brane annihilation at the end of the brane inflationary era. The cosmic superstring network has a scaling solution and the characteristic scale of the network is…
We have studied the cosmological evolution of domain wall networks in two, three and four spatial dimensions using high-resolution field theory simulations. The dynamical range and number of our simulations is larger than in previous works,…
We propose a mechanism for solving the horizon and entropy problems of standard cosmology which does not make use of cosmological inflation. Crucial ingredients of our scenario are brane gases, extra dimensions, and a confining potential…
We develop a semi-analytical model to describe the cosmological evolution of networks of cosmic strings with small-scale structure, by extending the velocity-dependent one-scale model to include an additional lengthscale describing the…
In these lectures I discuss the possibility that superstrings of cosmic length might exist and be observable. I first review the original idea of cosmic strings arising as gauge theory solitons, and discuss in particular their network…