Strangelets and their possible astrophysical origin

We discuss the first-order phase transition of QCD at high temperature in the universe and the possible formation of quark-matter lumps through cooling in regions of increased pressure. We show tha similarity of results using confinement and breaking of chiral symmetry. The inclusion of strange matter may give stability to small drops, or strangelets, in the colour-flavour locked phase possibly achieved in neutron stars that could reach a high-altitude observatory like that of Chacaltaya as primary cosmic rays.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figure

Strings With Axionic Content and Baryogenesis

We describe different electroweak strings with axionic content, including non-topological configurations calculated numerically, and show their possible influence on baryogenesis indicating that they may constitute a mechanism competitive to that of bubble nucleation with two Higgs-doublets.Comment: 12 page

Influence of Strings with Axionic Content on the Polarization of Extragalactic Sources

It is shown that the axion concentrated in electroweak strings which are consequently stabilized may produce a rotation of the polarization angle of radiation from extragalactic sources larger than that caused by a background field, and that axionic walls attached to global strings have an effect which depends on the frequency. We discuss the validity of the classical and quantum treatments of radiation and indicate that the latter produces conversion of linear into circular polarization. We describe possible anomalies in the observations which might suggest these influences of the axion.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figure

Hard component of ultra-high energy cosmic rays and vortons

Observed events of ultra-high energy cosmic rays may indicate a hard component for the energy spectrum of their flux, which might have origin in the decay of long-lived vortons presumably condensed in the galactic halo. To be consistent with the needed present density, vortons may have been formed during the breaking of an abelian symmetry contained in a large GUT group like E6 and a part of them could have survived the destabilization caused by the electroweak transition.Comment: accepted version to appear in Astroparticle Physics. 24 pages, 3 figures. Enlarged discussion on vortons formation and GUT model

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

Comparison of UHECR spectra from necklaces and vortons

Cosmic rays of energy higher than 10^19 eV may be explained by topological defects produced in the early stages of universe. Two suitable alternatives are: necklaces formed by magnetic monopoles connected by strings, and vortons which are loops stabilized by superconducting currents. The former are uniformly distributed in the universe, may account for cosmic rays above the ankle, suffer a transient GZK cutoff with a subsequent recovery and isotropy of observations is expected. The latter are concentrated in the galactic halo, require an additional extragalactic contribution between the ankle and the GZK cutoff, beyond which give a harder component and predict anisotropy related to mass concentration.Comment: 11 pages, standard latex, 3 postscript figures. Presented at the Chacaltaya Meeting on Cosmic Rays Physics, La Paz, 23-27 July 200

Cosmic Rays from Decaying Vortons

The flux of high energy cosmic rays coming from the decay of vortons is estimated. If the abundance of loops corresponding to a superconductivity scale coincident with that of the string formation is corrected to be compatible with the critical density of universe, it is found that the emission of one carrier per vorton may produce a flux of one cosmic ray event per $km^2$ of detector and per year.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, no figure

Baryogenesis through gradual collapse of vortons

We evaluate the matter-antimatter asymmetry produced by emission of fermionic carriers from vortons which are assumed to be destabilized at the electroweak phase transition.The velocity of contraction of the vorton, calculated through the decrease of its magnetic energy, originates a chemical potential which allows a baryogenesis of the order of the observed value. This asymmetry is not diluted by reheating if the collapse of vortons is distributed along an interval of ~ 10^-9 sec.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, no figure