Defect formation in the early universe

Abstract

Topological defects are common in many everyday systems. In general, they appear if a symmetry is broken at a rapid phase transition. In this article, I explain why it is believed that they should have also been formed in the early universe and how that would have happened. If topological defects are found, this will provide a way to study observationally the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang, but their apparent absence can also tell us many things about the early universe.

26 pages, 10 figures. Updated to match the version published in Contemporary Physics (http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?id=dcvj45hv41kr7xf7)

References in corpus (3)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Observation of Magnetic Flux Generated Spontaneously During a Rapid Quench of Superconducting Films
• Estimation of vortex density after superconducting film quench

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Fundamental cosmic strings
• Introduction to Magnetic Monopoles
• Giant vortices, vortex rings and reentrant behavior in type-1.5 superconductors
• Signal of the pion string at high-energy collisions
• Exploring the Kibble-Zurek mechanism in a secondary bifurcation
• Bound collective modes in nonuniform superconductors
• Tackling tangledness of cosmic strings by knot polynomial topological invariants
• Topological Zero-Thickness Cosmic Strings
• The geodesic rule for higher codimensional global defects
• Gravitating Dyons in Vaidya Geometry