Related papers: Cosmic String Evolution in Higher Dimensions
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,…
Understanding the evolution and cosmological consequences of topological defect networks requires a combination of analytic modeling and numerical simulations. The canonical analytic model for defect network evolution is the…
This thesis is essentially organized in two parts: braneworlds and higher dimensional black objects with a cosmological constant. We present solitonic braneworld models where the brane are inflating and with the presence of a cosmological…
Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in GUT-scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings…
Cosmic string networks are expected to form in early Universe phase transitions via the Kibble mechanism and are unavoidable in several Beyond the Standard Model theories. While most predictions of observational signals of string networks…
We discuss and summarise the predictions of a model for the non-equilibrium evolution of a network of cosmic strings initially containing {\em only loops} and {\em no infinite strings}. The results are of interest given recent work…
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…
Cosmic strings provide a radically different paradigm for the formation of structure to the prevailing inflationary one. They afford some extra technical complications: for example, the calculation of the power spectrum of matter and…
We use the Velocity-dependent One Scale Model for topological defect evolution to explore and classify the possible scaling solutions for string networks with time-varying tension, in cosmological and non-cosmological settings and under two…
We argue for the existence of phase transitions in $3+1$ dimensions associated with the appearance of tensionless strings. The massless spectrum of this theory does not contain a graviton: it consists of one $N=2$ vector multiplet and one…
We study the dynamics and evolution of Nambu-Goto strings in a warped spacetime, where the warp factor is a function of the internal coordinates giving rise to a `throat' region. The microscopic equations of motion for strings in this…
Attempts to connect string theory with astrophysical observation are hampered by a jargon barrier, where an intimidating profusion of orientifolds, Kahler potentials, etc. dissuades cosmologists from attempting to work out the astrophysical…
Recent developments in string theory suggest that cosmic strings could be formed at the end of brane inflation. Supergravity provides a realistic model to study the properties of strings arising in brane inflation. Whilst the properties of…
We use the velocity-dependent one-scale model by Martins & Shellard to investigate the evolution of a GUT long cosmic string network in arbitrary Friedmann-Lemaitre models. Four representative models are used to show that in general there…
In these lectures, I review the current status of cosmic strings and cosmic superstrings. I first discuss topological defects in the context of Grand Unified Theories, focusing in particular in cosmic strings arising as gauge theory…
The implications of string theory for understanding the dimension of uncompactified spacetime are investigated. Using recent ideas in string cosmology, a new model is proposed to explain why three spatial dimensions grew large. Unlike the…
The Standard Model is the low-energy limit of a microscopic theory which includes extra dimensions and new symmetries. A part of my thesis consisted in constructing a new class of models with two extra dimensions. We showed that these…
The existence of non-singular string cosmologies is established in a class of two-dimensional supersymmetric Hybrid models at finite temperature. The left-moving sector of the Hybrid models gives rise to 16 real (N_4=4) spacetime…
We make use of the formalism described in a previous paper [Martins {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. D90 (2014) 043518] to address general features of wiggly cosmic string evolution. In particular, we highlight the important role played by poorly…
Cosmology motivated by string theory has been studied extensively in the recent literature. String theory is promising because it has interesting features such as unifying gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear forces. However,…