Related papers: String Effective Actions and Cosmological Stabilit…
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 review various aspects of de Sitter spacetime in string theory: its status as an effective field theory spacetime solution, its relation to the vacuum energy problem in string theory, its (global) holographic definition in terms of two…
The quantum field theory prediction of the cosmological constant is 120 orders of magnitude higher than the observed value. This is known as the cosmological constant problem. Here, we deal with the cosmological constant as a scalar field…
A stability analysis is made for a non-singular pre-big-bang like cosmological model based on 1-loop corrected string effective action. Its homogeneous and isotropic solution realizes non-singular transition from de Sitter universe to…
We discuss data analysis techniques that can be used in the search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings. When data from multiple interferometers are available, we describe consistency checks that can be used to greatly reduce…
The one-loop effective action for 4-dimensional gauged supergravity with negative cosmological constant, is investigated in space-times with compact hyperbolic spatial section. The explicit expansion of the effective action as a power…
In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may…
The two major goals in fundamental physics are: 1) Unification of all forces incorporating relativity and quantum theory, 2) Understanding the origin and evolution of the Universe as well as explaining the smallness of the cosmological…
A stability analysis of a spherically symmetric star in scalar-tensor theories of gravity is given in terms of the frequencies of quasi-normal modes. The scalar-tensor theories have a scalar field which is related to gravitation. There is…
The observation of a scalar resonance at the LHC, compatible with perturbative electroweak symmetry breaking, reinforces the Standard Model parameterisation of all subatomic data. The logarithmic evolution of the SM gauge and matter…
In flat space-time, sigma-model strings and textures are both unstable to collapse and subsequent decay. With sufficient cosmological expansion, however, they are stable in a generalized sense: a small perturbation will cause them to change…
Spacetime singularities are studied in both the $D+d$-dimensional string theory and its $D$-dimensional effective theory, obtained by the Kaluza-Klein compactification. It is found that spacetime singularities in the low dimensional…
Cosmic strings are predicted in various extensions of the Standard Model, including grand unified theories. Depending on the symmetry-breaking pattern, they can be either topologically stable or metastable. Intriguingly, metastable strings…
We construct a vacuum of string theory in which the magnitude of the vacuum energy is $< 10^{-123}$ in Planck units. Regrettably, the sign of the vacuum energy is negative, and some supersymmetry remains unbroken.
In String Gas Cosmology, the simplest shape modulus fields are naturally stabilized by taking into account the presence of string winding and momentum modes. We determine the resulting effective potential for these fields and show that it…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that form whenever phase transitions in the early universe break axial symmetries as originally shown by Kibble. They are the result of frustrated order in the quantum fields responsible…
The behaviour of a relativistic scalar particle subject to a scalar potential under the effects of the violation of the Lorentz symmetry in the cosmic string spacetime is discussed. It is considered two possible scenarios of the Lorentz…
We study warped compactifications of string/M theory with the help of effective potentials, continuing previous work of the last two authors and Michael R. Douglas presented in arXiv:1206.1885. The dynamics of the conformal factor of the…
We compute the decay rate of a metastable cosmic string in contact with a thermal bath by finding the instanton solution. The new feature is that this decay rate is found in the context of non thermal scalar fields in contact with a thermal…
The landscape of possible four-dimensional low-energy effective theories arising from compactifications of string/M-theory seems vast. This might lead one to believe that any consistent-looking effective field theory coupled to gravity can…