Semiclassical decay of topological defects

Abstract

Perturbative estimates suggest that extended topological defects such as cosmic strings emit few particles, but numerical simulations of the fields from which they are constructed suggest the opposite. In this paper we study the decay of the two-dimensional prototype of strings, domain walls in a simple scalar theory, solving the underlying quantum field theory in the Hartree approximation. We conclude that including the quantum effects makes the picture clear: the defects do not directly transform into particles, but there is a non-perturbative channel to microscopic classical structures in the form of propagating waves and persistent localised oscillations, which operates over a huge separation of scales. When quantum effects are included, the microscopic classical structures can decay into particles.

10 pages revtex, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (19)

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• Scaling from gauge and scalar radiation in Abelian Higgs string networks
• Small amplitude quasi-breathers and oscillons
• Evolution of cosmic superstring networks: a numerical simulation
• Radiation of scalar oscillons in 2 and 3 dimensions
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• Renormalised nonequilibrium quantum field theory: scalar fields
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• Non-Thermal Dark Matter from Cosmic Strings
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• On the quantum stability of Q-balls
• Oscillons in dilaton-scalar theories
• Non-topological solitons and quasi-solitons
• Rolling with quantum fields
• Gravitational collapse with quantum fields
• Note on Structure Formation from Cosmic String Wakes