Related papers: Cosmic String Zero Modes and Multiple Phase Transi…

We argue that traditional methods of compactification of string theory make it very difficult to understand how the cosmological constant becomes zero. String inspired models can give zero cosmological constant after fine tuning but since…

We consider the effects of graviton multiplet fields on transitions between string gas phases. Focusing on the dilaton field, we show that it may obstruct transitions between different thermodynamic phases of the string gas, because the…

We review applications of string theory to cosmology, from primordial times to the present-day accelerated expansion. Starting with a brief overview of cosmology and string compactifications, we discuss in detail moduli stabilisation,…

Massless chiral excitations can arise from the interactions between a fermion and an axion string, propagating along the string and allowing it to superconduct. The properties of these excitations, or zero modes, dictate how the string…

We consider a toroidal configuration of cosmic string in 3+1 dimensions in an abelian Higgs model, a compactification of the Nielsen-Olesen string. This object is classically unstable. We explicitly compute the number of permitted zero…

For a rather general class of scenarios, sweeping through a zero-temperature phase transition by means of a time-dependent external parameter entails universal behavior: In the vicinity of the critical point, excitations behave as quantum…

For $2D$ string theory, the perturbative $S$-matrices are not well-defined due to a zero mode divergence. Although there exist formal procedures to make the integral convergent, their physical meanings are unclear. We describe a method to…

In this letter we show that the zero-point motion of the vortex in superconducting doped topological insulators leads to significant changes in the electronic spectrum at the topological phase transition in this system. This topological…

We investigate the transition from second to first order systems. This transforms configuration space into phase space and hence introduces noncommutativity in the former. Quantum mechanically, the transition may be described in terms of…

Equations of motion of null cosmic strings near black holes, or other massive sources, are solved exactly in the weak field approximation. The stress-energy tensor of a null string in a curved spacetime is introduced and used to show how…

We show that a theory with conformal invariance, which is explicitly broken by small terms, provides a solution to the fine tuning problem of the cosmological constant. In the absence of the symmetry breaking terms, the cosmological…

We review recent simulations of the formation of a particular class of non-topological defects known as semilocal strings during a phase transition. Semilocal strings have properties that are intermediate between topological cosmic strings…

Phase transitions can play an important role in the cosmological constant problem, allowing the underlying vacuum energy, and therefore the value of the cosmological constant, to change. Deep within the core of neutron stars, the local…

We investigate some classical aspects of fundamental strings via numerical experiments. In particular, we study the thermodynamics of a string network within a toroidal universe, as a function of string energy density and space…

We study field theoretical models for cosmic strings with flat directions in curved space-time. More precisely, we consider minimal models with semilocal, axionic and tachyonic strings, respectively. In flat space-time, the string solutions…

In the colour string model the impact of string percolation on multiplicities, their long-range correlations and average transverse momentum is studied. The multiplicities are shown to be damped by a simple factor which follows from the…

We argue that in the context of string theory a large number N of connected degenerate vacua that mix will lead to a ground state with much lower energy, essentially because of the standard level repulsion of quantum theory for the…

It is shown that topologically stable cosmic strings can, in fact, appear to end or to break, even in theories without monopoles. This can occur whenever the spatial topology of the universe is nontrivial. For the case of Abelian-Higgs…

Some of the phenomenological implications of string cosmological models are reviewed, with particular attention to the spectra of the tensor, scalar and vector modes of the geometry. A class of self-dual string cosmological models is…

A central problem in quantum condensed matter physics is the critical theory governing the zero temperature quantum phase transition between strongly renormalized Fermi-liquids as found in heavy fermion intermetallics and possibly high Tc…