771 research outputs found
Prolongation of Friction Dominated Evolution for Superconducting Cosmic Strings
This investigation is concerned with cosmological scenarios based on particle
physics theories that give rise to superconducting cosmic strings (whose
subsequent evolution may produce stable loop configurations known as vortons).
Cases in which electromagnetic coupling of the string current is absent or
unimportant have been dealt with in previous work. The purpose of the present
work is to provide quantitative estimates for cases in which electromagnetic
interaction with the surrounding plasma significantly affects the string
dynamics. In particular it will be shown that the current can become
sufficiently strong for the initial period of friction dominated string motion
to be substantially prolonged, which would entail a reinforcement of the short
length scale end of the spectrum of the string distribution, with potentially
observable cosmological implications if the friction dominated scenario lasts
until the time of plasma recombination.Comment: 10 pages Late
Non-Thermal Production of WIMPs and the Sub-Galactic Structure of the Universe
There is increasing evidence that conventional cold dark matter (CDM) models
lead to conflicts between observations and numerical simulations of dark matter
halos on sub-galactic scales. Spergel and Steinhardt showed that if the CDM is
strongly self-interacting, then the conflicts disappear. However, the
assumption of strong self-interaction would rule out the favored candidates for
CDM, namely weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), such as the
neutralino. In this paper we propose a mechanism of non-thermal production of
WIMPs and study its implications on the power spectrum. We find that the
non-vanishing velocity of the WIMPs suppresses the power spectrum on small
scales compared to what it obtained in the conventional CDM model. Our results
show that, in this context, WIMPs as candidates for dark matter can work well
both on large scales and on sub-galactic scales.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; typo corrected; to appear in PR
Dynamical Relaxation of the Cosmological Constant and Matter Creation in the Universe
In this Letter we discuss the issues of the graceful exit from inflation and
of matter creation in the context of a recent scenario \cite{RHBrev} in which
the back-reaction of long wavelength cosmological perturbations induces a
negative contribution to the cosmological constant and leads to a dynamical
relaxation of the bare cosmological constant. The initially large cosmological
constant gives rise to primordial inflation, during which cosmological
perturbations are stretched beyond the Hubble radius. The cumulative effect of
the long wavelength fluctuations back-reacts on the background geometry in a
form which corresponds to the addition of a negative effective cosmological
constant to the energy-momentum tensor. In the absence of an effective scalar
field driving inflation, whose decay can reheat the Universe, the challenge is
to find a mechanism which produces matter at the end of the relaxation process.
In this Letter, we point out that the decay of a condensate representing the
order parameter for a ``flat'' direction in the field theory moduli space can
naturally provide a matter generation mechanism. The order parameter is
displaced from its vacuum value by thermal or quantum fluctuations, it is
frozen until the Hubble constant drops to a sufficiently low value, and then
begins to oscillate about its ground state. During the period of oscillation it
can decay into Standard Model particles similar to how the inflaton decays in
scalar-field-driven models of inflation.Comment: 6 page
Observational Constraints on Theories with a Blue Spectrum of Tensor Modes
Motivated by the string gas cosmological model, which predicts a blue tilt of
the primordial gravitational wave spectrum, we examine the constraints imposed
by current and planned observations on a blue tilted tensor spectrum. Starting
from an expression for the primordial gravitational wave spectrum normalized
using cosmic microwave background observations, pulsar timing, direct detection
and nucleosynthesis bounds are examined. If we assume a tensor to scalar ratio
on scales of the CMB which equals the current observational upper bound, we
obtain from these current observations constraints on the tensor spectral index
of , , and
respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 2 references added, relationship of this work
with Ref. 20 adde
Unconventional Cosmology
I review two cosmological paradigms which are alternative to the current
inflationary scenario. The first alternative is the "matter bounce", a
non-singular bouncing cosmology with a matter-dominated phase of contraction.
The second is an "emergent" scenario, which can be implemented in the context
of "string gas cosmology". I will compare these scenarios with the inflationary
one and demonstrate that all three lead to an approximately scale-invariant
spectrum of cosmological perturbations.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures; invited lectures at the 6th Aegean Summer
School "Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology", Chora, Naxos, Greece, Sept.
12 - 17 2012, to be publ. in the proceedings; these lecture notes form an
updated version of arXiv:1003.1745 and arXiv:1103.227
On T-Duality in Brane Gas Cosmology
In the context of homogeneous and isotropic superstring cosmology, the
T-duality symmetry of string theory has been used to argue that for a
background space-time described by dilaton gravity with strings as matter
sources, the cosmological evolution of the Universe will be nonsingular. In
this Letter we discuss how T-duality extends to brane gas cosmology, an
approximation in which the background space-time is again described by dilaton
gravity with a gas of branes as a matter source. We conclude that the arguments
for nonsingular cosmological evolution remain valid.Comment: 8 pages, Appendix adde
Topological Defects and Cosmology
Many particle physics models of matter admit solutions corresponding to
stable or long-lived topological defects. In the context of standard cosmology
it is then unavoidable that such defects will form during phase transitions in
the very early Universe. Certain types of defects lead to disastrous
consequences for cosmology, others may play a useful role, as possible seeds
for the formation of structure in the Universe, or in mediating baryon number
violating processes. In all cases, topological defects lead to a fruitful
interplay between particle physics and cosmology.Comment: 17 pages, no figures; Invited lectures at WHEPP-5, IUCAA, Pune,
India, Jan. 12 - 26 199
Stability of an electroweak string with a fermion condensate
A solution of the standard electroweak theory with a single lepton family is
constructed, consisting of a cosmic string and a fermion condensate within its
core. The stability of this system to small perturbations is examined, and it
is found that stability is not enhanced relative to the bare electroweak
string. The presence of quark zero modes is shown to violate the existence
criteria for embedded defects.Comment: 13 pages, preprint DAMTP 94-9, SWAT/2
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