6 research outputs found
Spontaneous decompactification
Positive vacuum energy together with extra dimensions of space imply that our
four-dimensional Universe is unstable, generically to decompactification of the
extra dimensions. Either quantum tunneling or thermal fluctuations carry one
past a barrier into the decompactifying regime. We give an overview of this
process, and examine the subsequent expansion into the higher- dimensional
geometry. This is governed by certain fixed-point solutions of the evolution
equations, which are studied for both positive and negative spatial curvature.
In the case where there is a higher-dimensional cosmological constant, we also
outline a possible mechanism for compactification to a four-dimensional de
Sitter cosmology.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, harvmac. v2: refs added, minor notation change
Dark matter production from cosmic necklaces
Cosmic strings have gained a great interest, since they are formed in a large
class of brane inflationary models. The most interesting story is that cosmic
strings in brane models are distinguished in future cosmological observations.
If the strings in brane models are branes or superstrings that can move along
compactified space, and also if there are degenerated vacua along the
compactified space, kinks interpolate between degenerated vacua become
``beads'' on the strings. In this case, strings turn into necklaces. In the
case that the compact manifold in not simply connected, a string loop that
winds around a nontrivial circle is stable due to the topological reason. Since
the existence of the (quasi-)degenerated vacua and the nontrivial circle is a
common feature of the brane models, it is important to study cosmological
constraints on the cosmic necklaces and the stable winding states. In this
paper, we consider dark matter production from loops of the cosmic necklaces.
Our result suggests that necklaces can put stringent bound on certain kinds of
brane models.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, added many comments and 3 figures, accepted for
publication in JCA
Observational constraints on cosmic strings: Bayesian analysis in a three dimensional parameter space
Current data exclude cosmic strings as the primary source of primordial
density fluctuations. However, in a wide class of inflationary models, strings
can form at later stages of inflation and have potentially detectable
observational signatures. We study the constraints from WMAP and SDSS data on
the fraction of primordial fluctuations sourced by local cosmic strings. The
Bayesian analysis presented in this brief report is restricted to the minimal
number of parameters. Yet it is useful for two reasons. It confirms the results
of Pogosian et al (2003) using an alternative statistical method. Secondly, it
justifies the more costly multi-parameter analysis. Already, varying only three
parameters -- the spectral index and the amplitudes of the adiabatic and string
contributions -- we find that the upper bound on the cosmic string contribution
is of order 10%. We expect that the full multi-parameter study, currently
underway, will likely loosen this bound.Comment: v3: 4 pages, 5 figures, slight modifications to match published
versio
Cosmology of the Tachyon in Brane Inflation
In certain implementations of the brane inflationary paradigm, the exit from
inflation occurs when the branes annihilate through tachyon condensation. We
investigate various cosmological effects produced by this tachyonic era. We
find that only a very small region of the parameter space (corresponding to
slow-roll with tiny inflaton mass) allows for the tachyon to contribute some
e-folds to inflation. In addition, non-adiabatic density perturbations are
generated at the end of inflation. When the brane is moving relativistically
this contribution can be of the same order as fluctuations produced 55 e-folds
before the end of inflation. The additional contribution is very nearly
scale-invariant and enhances the tensor/scalar ratio. Additional
non-gaussianities will also be generated, sharpening current constraints on
DBI-type models which already predict a significantly non-gaussian signal.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures; v3, minor revision, JCAP versio
New solutions with accelerated expansion in string theory
We present concrete solutions with accelerated expansion in string theory,
requiring a small, tractable list of stress energy sources. We explain how this
construction (and others in progress) evades previous no go theorems for simple
accelerating solutions. Our solutions respect an approximate scaling symmetry
and realize discrete sequences of values for the equation of state, including
one with an accumulation point at w=-1 and another accumulating near w=-1/3
from below. In another class of models, a density of defects generates scaling
solutions with accelerated expansion. We briefly discuss potential applications
to dark energy phenomenology, and to holography for cosmology.Comment: 37 pages, 1 figure. v2: comments and references adde