Related papers: Core Phase Structure of Cosmic Strings and Monopol…

Topological order is defined by topological invariants, rather than symmetries and local order parameters. Nonetheless some topological phases can be characterized by string order parameters and entanglement. In this article we study how…

We study cosmic strings in the complex symmetron model, a scalar-tensor theory with a spontaneously broken local $U(1)$ symmetry in low matter density regions. Using numerical simulations, we show that these strings preferentially attach to…

We perform a new and accurate study of the dependence on cosmological parameters of structure formation with local cosmic strings. The crucial new ingredients are the inclusion of the effects of gravitational backreaction on the evolution…

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…

This paper explores the relativistic quantum motion of scalar bosons in the presence of mixed topological defects: cosmic strings and global monopoles. The Klein-Gordon equation with generalized Coulomb potentials is analyzed in this…

We discuss three closely related questions; i)~Given a conformal field theory, how may we deform it? ii)~What are the symmetries of string theory? and iii)~Does string theory have free parameters? We show that there is a distinct…

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…

Topological defects are ubiquitous in condensed-matter physics but only hypothetical in the early universe. In spite of this, even an indirect evidence for one of these cosmic objects would revolutionize our vision of the cosmos. We give…

We point out that the moduli sector of the $(2,2)$ string compactification with its nonperturbatively preserved non-compact symmetries is a fertile framework to study global topological defects, thus providing a natural source for the large…

The potential role of cosmic topological defects has raised interest in the astrophysical community for many years now. In this set of notes, we give an introduction to the subject of cosmic topological defects and some of their possible…

We present an extension of the velocity-dependent one-scale model for cosmic string evolution, which is suitable for describing the evolution of local and global monopole networks. We discuss the key dynamical features that need to be…

The constraints on the models for the structure formation arising from various cosmological observations at different length scales are reviewed. The status of different models for structure formation is examined critically in the light of…

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…

When the topology of the universe is non trivial, it has been shown that there are constraints on the network of domain walls, cosmic strings and monopoles. I generalize these results to textures and study the cosmological implications of…

We consider global topological defects in symmetry breaking models with a non-canonical kinetic term. Apart from a mass parameter entering the potential, one additional dimensional parameter arises in such models -- a ``kinetic'' mass. The…

We show that stable local cosmic strings are a generic prediction of supersymmetric models where supersymmetry is broken at scales within a few orders of magnitude of the weak scale and is fed down to the observable sector by gauge…

I analyze the interplay of gauge and global symmetries in the theory of topological defects. In a two-dimensional model in which both gauge symmetries and {\it exact} global symmetries are spontaneously broken, stable vortices may fail to…

We show that cosmological observables can constrain the topology of the compact additional dimensions predicted by string theory. To do this, we develop a general strategy for relating cosmological observables to the microscopic parameters…

We propose a criterion to classify hybrid defects occurring in field theoretic models such as the standard electroweak model. This criterion leads us to consider the minimal extension of the electroweak model in which electroweak magnetic…

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…