A possible origin of superconducting currents in cosmic strings

The scattering and capture of right-handed neutrinos by an Abelian cosmic string in the SO(10) grand unification model are considered. The scattering cross-section of neutrinos per unit length due to the interaction with the gauge and Higgs fields of the string is much larger in its scaling regime than in the friction one because of the larger infrared cutoff of the former.The probability of capture in a zero mode of the string accompanied by the emission of a gauge or Higgs boson shows a resonant peak for neutrino momentum of the order of its mass. Considering the decrease of number of strings per unit comoving volume in the scaling epoch the cosmological consequences of the superconducting strings formed in this regime will be much smaller than those which could be produced already in the friction one.Comment: 14 pages Latex, 4 figues/ep

Decay of Magnetic Fields in the Early Universe

We study the evolution of a stochastic helical magnetic field generated in the early Universe after the electroweak phase transition, using standard magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We find how the coherence length xi, magnetic energy E_M and magnetic helicity H evolve with time. We show that the self-similarity of the magnetic power spectrum alone implies that xi ~ t^{1/2}. This in turn implies that magnetic helicity decays as H ~ t^{-2s}, and that the magnetic energy decays as E_M ~ t^{-0.5-2s}, where s is inversely proportional to the magnetic Reynolds number Re_M. These laws improve on several previous estimates.Comment: 5pp LaTeX + World Sci procs class, 3 eps figs. Talk given at Strong and Electroweak Matter, Oct 2-5 2002, Heidelber

Bound States and Instabilities of Vortices

We examine the spectrum of small perturbations around global and local (gauge) abelian vortices, using simple numerical matrix techniques. The results are of interest for both cosmic strings and for their condensed matter analogues, superfluid and superconducting vortices. We tabulate the instabilities of higher winding number vortices, and find several bound states. These localised oscillations of the order parameter can be thought of as particle states trapped in the core of the string.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, 6 uuencoded figure

Cosmological Perturbations from Cosmic Strings

Some aspects of the theory of cosmological perturbations from cosmic strings and other topological defects are outlined, with particular reference to a simple example: a spatially flat CDM-dominated universe. The conserved energy-momentum pseudo-tensor is introduced, and the equation for the density perturbation derived from it. It is shown how the scaling hypothesis for defect evolution results in a Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum for wavelengths well inside the horizon.Comment: LaTeX, 6pp. From Proceedings of `Trends in Astroparticle Physics', Stockholm, Sweden 22-25 September 1994, edited by L. Bergstr\"om, P. Carlson, P.O. Hulth and H. Snellman (to be published in Nucl.~Phys~B, Proceedings Supplements Section

Low-cost fermions in classical field simulations

We discuss the possible extension of the bosonic classical field theory simulations to include fermions. This problem has been addressed in terms of the inhomogeneous mean field approximation by Aarts and Smit. By performing a stochastic integration of an equivalent set of equations we can extend the original 1+1 dimensional calculations so that they become feasible in higher dimensions. We test the scheme in 2 + 1 dimensions and discuss some classical applications with fermions for the first time, such as the decay of oscillons.Comment: 13 pages, revtex

Phase transition dynamics in the hot Abelian Higgs model

We present a detailed numerical study of the equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics of the phase transition in the finite-temperature Abelian Higgs model. Our simulations use classical equations of motion both with and without hard-thermal-loop corrections, which take into account the leading quantum effects. From the equilibrium real-time correlators, we determine the Landau damping rate, the plasmon frequency and the plasmon damping rate. We also find that, close to the phase transition, the static magnetic field correlator shows power-law magnetic screening at long distances. The information about the damping rates allows us to derive a quantitative prediction for the number density of topological defects formed in a phase transition. We test this prediction in a non-equilibrium simulation and show that the relevant time scale for defect formation is given by the Landau damping rate.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure

Where are the Hedgehogs in Nematics?

In experiments which take a liquid crystal rapidly from the isotropic to the nematic phase, a dense tangle of defects is formed. In nematics, there are in principle both line and point defects (``hedgehogs''), but no point defects are observed until the defect network has coarsened appreciably. In this letter the expected density of point defects is shown to be extremely low, approximately $10^{-8}$ per initially correlated domain, as result of the topology (specifically, the homology) of the order parameter space.Comment: 6 pages, latex, 1 figure (self-unpacking PostScript)

Dark Matter with Topological Defects in the Inert Doublet Model

We examine the production of dark matter by decaying topological defects in the high mass region $m_{\mathrm{DM}} \gg m_W$ of the Inert Doublet Model, extended with an extra U(1) gauge symmetry. The density of dark matter states (the neutral Higgs states of the inert doublet) is determined by the interplay of the freeze-out mechanism and the additional production of dark matter states from the decays of topological defects, in this case cosmic strings. These decays increase the predicted relic abundance compared to the standard freeze-out only case, and as a consequence the viable parameter space of the Inert Doublet Model can be widened substantially. In particular, for a given dark matter annihilation rate lower dark matter masses become viable. We investigate the allowed mass range taking into account constraints on the energy injection rate from the diffuse $\gamma$-ray background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, together with constraints on the dark matter properties coming from direct and indirect detection limits. For the Inert Doublet Model high-mass region, an inert Higgs mass as low as $\sim 200$ GeV is permitted. There is also an upper limit on string mass per unit length, and hence the symmetry breaking scale, from the relic abundance in this scenario. Depending on assumptions made about the string decays, the limits are in the range $10^{12}$ GeV to $10^{13}$ GeV.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures. V2: Published version with references adde

Limiting SUSY-QCD spectrum and its application for decays of superheavy particles

The supersymmetric generalization of the limiting and Gaussian QCD spectra is obtained. These spectra are valid for $x \ll 1$, when the main contribution to the parton cascade is given by gluons and gluinos. The derived spectra are applied to decaying superheavy particles with masses up to the GUT scale. These particles can be relics from the Big Bang or produced by topological defects and could give rise to the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. General formulae for the fluxes of protons, photons and neutrinos due to decays of superheavy particles are obtained.Comment: 8 pages, revtex, 3 ps figures. v2 minor changes, v3 typo in eq.(15) corrected; version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Scaling in Numerical Simulations of Domain Walls

We study the evolution of domain wall networks appearing after phase transitions in the early Universe. They exhibit interesting dynamical scaling behaviour which is not yet well understood, and are also simple models for the more phenomenologically acceptable string networks. We have run numerical simulations in two- and three-dimensional lattices of sizes up to 4096^3. The theoretically predicted scaling solution for the wall area density A ~ 1/t is supported by the simulation results, while no evidence of a logarithmic correction reported in previous studies could be found. The energy loss mechanism appears to be direct radiation, rather than the formation and collapse of closed loops or spheres. We discuss the implications for the evolution of string networks.Comment: 7pp RevTeX, 9 eps files (including six 220kB ones