Related papers: On the formation of non-topological string network…
We analyze the evolution of scalar and gauge fields during first order phase transitions and show how the Kibble mechanism for the formation of topological defects emerges from the underlying dynamics, paying particular attention to…
It is shown that the minimal left-right symmetric model admits cosmic string and domain wall solutions. The cosmic strings arise when the SU(2)_R is broken and can either be destabilized at the electroweak scale or remain stable through the…
We formulate a local condition for a nontopological defect to be present. We apply it for electroweak strings and estimate the probability of their existence at the Ginzburg temperature. As a result we find strings long enough to serve for…
In these lectures, I describe the formation of defect distributions in first-order phase transitions, then briefly discuss the relevance of defect interactions after a phase transition and the observational signatures of cosmic strings.…
We show that the minimal supergravity extension of the standard model automatically contains topologically stable electroweak strings if the hidden sector is invariant under the exact R-symmetry. These defects appear in the form of the…
We study the scenario of electroweak baryogenesis mediated by nonsuperconducting cosmic strings. This idea relies upon electroweak symmetry being restored in a region around the core of the topological defect so that, within this region,…
P-term potentials can give rise to Nielsen-Olesen or semi-local cosmic strings. We present a general analysis of these cosmic strings where we derive the Bogomol'nyi equations and field profiles for both types of string and discuss their…
Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects which could have been formed in the early stages of our Universe. They triggered a lot of interest, mainly for their cosmological implications: they could offer an alternative to…
We study the behaviour and consequences of cosmic string networks in contracting universes. They approximately behave during the collapse phase as a radiation fluids. Scaling solutions describing this are derived and tested against…
Topological defects, in particular cosmic strings, give rise to an interesting mechanism for generating the primordial perturbations in the early Universe which are required to explain the present structure. An overview of the cosmic string…
We continue a comprehensive numerical study of semilocal string networks and their cosmological evolution. These can be thought of as hybrid networks comprised of (non-topological) string segments, whose core structure is similar to that of…
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…
The discovery of the topological insulators has fueled a surge of interests in the topological phases in periodic systems. Topological insulators have bulk energy gap and topologically protected gapless edge states. The edge states in…
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…
I report on a critical analysis of the scenario of electroweak baryogenesis mediated by nonsuperconducting cosmic strings. This mechanism relies upon electroweak symmetry restoration in a region around cosmic strings, where sphalerons would…
Non-abelian (NA) topological string defects exist in QCD with the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking $U(N_f)_L \times U(N_f)_R \to U(N_f)_V$. Anomaly effects lead to domain walls connected to these strings. In the framework of linear…
In this paper we will discuss how cosmic strings can be used to bridge the gap between the local geometry of our spacetime model and the global topology. The primary tool is the theory of foliations and surfaces, and together with…
Cosmic strings are a type of cosmic defect formed by a symmetry-breaking phase transition in the early universe. Individual strings would have gathered to build a network, and their dynamical motion would induce scalar--, vector-- and…
The electroweak symmetry is unbroken in the core of cosmic strings originating from a symmetry breaking at an energy higher than the electroweak scale $\eta_{EW}$. The dynamics of such strings may generate a baryon asymmetry below 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…