Evolution of Cosmic Necklaces and Lattices

TL;DR

This paper extends analytic models to cosmic necklaces, revealing their evolution, scaling behaviors, and dependence on universe expansion, with implications for extra-dimensional theories like brane inflation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analytic framework for cosmic necklaces, including new insights into their scaling solutions and evolution in different cosmological epochs.

Findings

Linear scaling solutions are common during radiation and matter eras.

Other scaling laws can emerge depending on expansion rate and energy loss.

The analysis aligns with and extends previous estimates.

Abstract

Previously developed analytic models for the evolution of cosmic string and monopole networks are applied to networks of monopoles attached to two or more strings; the former case is usually known as cosmic necklaces. These networks are a common consequence of models with extra dimensions such as brane inflation. Our quantitative analysis agrees with (and extends) previous simpler estimates, but we will also highlight some differences. A linear scaling solution is usually the attractor solution for both the radiation and matter-dominated epochs, but other scaling laws can also exist, depending on the universe's expansion rate and the network's energy loss mechanisms.