Evolution of cosmic superstring networks: a numerical simulation

TL;DR

This paper uses large-scale numerical simulations to study the evolution of interconnected cosmic superstring networks, demonstrating they reach a scaling regime with characteristic lengths growing linearly over time.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed numerical analysis of interconnected gauge U(1) string networks, including bound states, in both flat and expanding spacetimes.

Findings

Network approaches a scaling regime with linear growth of characteristic lengths.

Bound strings are a small fraction of total string length.

Network does not tend to freeze over time.

Abstract

We study the formation and evolution of an interconnected string network in large-scale field-theory numerical simulations, both in flat spacetime and in expanding universe. The network consists of gauge U(1) strings of two different kinds and their bound states, arising due to an attractive interaction potential. We find that the network shows no tendency to ``freeze'' and appears to approach a scaling regime, with all characteristic lengths growing linearly with time. Bound strings constitute only a small fraction of the total string length in the network.