Related papers: Cosmological String Backgrounds
String theory provides the only consistent framework so far that unifies all interactions including gravity. We discuss gravity and cosmology in string theory. Conventional notions from general relativity like geometry, topology etc. are…
Cosmic strings are topological defects possibly formed in the early Universe, which may be observable due to their gravitational effects on the cosmic microwave background radiation or gravitational wave experiments. To this effect it is…
The intersection of string theory with cosmology is unavoidable in the early universe, and its exploration may shine light on both fields. In this thesis, three papers at this intersection are presented and reviewed, with the aim of…
Cosmic strings are the most popular topological defects arising from the spontaneous breaking of fundamental symmetries in the early Universe. They are the source of a number of interesting effects in cosmology and astrophysics. An…
From higher dimensional theories, e.g. string theory, one expects the presence of non-minimally coupled scalar fields. We review the notion of conformal frames in cosmology and emphasize their physical equivalence, which holds at least at a…
We study string propagation in a spacetime with positive cosmological constant, which includes a circle whose radius approaches a finite value as |t|\to\infty, and goes to zero at t=0. Near this cosmological singularity, the spacetime looks…
The cosmological constant is an unexplained until now phenomena of nature that requires an explanation through string effects. The apparent discrepancy between theory and experiment is enourmous and has already been explained several times…
This is a pedagogical introduction to the basics of the cosmic string theory and also a review of the recent progress made with respect to the macrophysical predictions of the theory. Topics covered include, string formation and evolution,…
Implications of string-string dualities to cosmological string vacua are discussed. Cosmological vacua of classical string theories comprise of disjoint classses mapped one another by scale-factor T-duality. Each classes are, however,…
Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…
In the context of a cosmological string model describing the propagation of strings in a time-dependent Robertson-Walker background space-time, we show that the asymptotic acceleration of the Universe can be identified with the square of…
We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory…
Gravitational and massless particle radiation of straight cosmic strings with finite thickness is studied analytically. It is found that the non-linear interaction of the radiation fields emitted by a cosmic string with the ones of the…
In this lecture I summarize recent developments on strings propagating in curved spacetime. Exact conformal field theories that describe gravitational backgrounds such as black holes and more intricate gravitational singularities have been…
We find nonlocal particle theories with two dimensional conformal symmetry, including examples equivalent to the bosonic open string and closed string. This work provides a new approach to construct solvable consistent backgrounds in string…
In these introductory lectures we summarize some basic facts and techniques about perturbative string theory (sections 1 to 6). These are further developed (sections 7 and 8) for describing string propagation in the presence of…
This is a contracted version of a series of lectures for graduate and undergraduate students given at the {\sl "VI Seminario Nazionale di Fisica Teorica"} (Parma, September 1997), at the Second Int. Conference {\sl "Around VIRGO"} (Pisa,…
Differential properties of a spin 2 boson field $\psi_{\mu\nu}$ describing propagation of gravitational perturbations on a straight cosmic string's space-time background are studied by means of methods of the differential spaces theory. It…
Within two specific string cosmology scenarios --differing in the way the pre- and post-big bang phases are joined-- we compute the size and spectral slope of various types of cosmologically amplified quantum fluctuations that arise in…
A massless scalar field is quantized in the background of a spinning string with cosmic dislocation. By increasing the spin density toward the dislocation parameter, a region containing closed timelike curves (CTCs) eventually forms around…