The effects of inhomogeneities on the cosmology of type IIB conifold transitions

TL;DR

This study investigates how inhomogeneities influence the dynamics of conifold transitions in type IIB string theory, revealing regimes where they either facilitate or hinder the transition, and providing evidence against the formation of string-like defects.

Contribution

It introduces real-time lattice simulations to analyze inhomogeneous effects on conifold transitions, a novel approach in this context.

Findings

Inhomogeneities can both aid and hinder the conifold transition.

Simulations show no formation of string-like defects.

Spatial variations influence the transition dynamics significantly.

Abstract

In this paper we examine the evolution of the effective field theory describing a conifold transition in type IIB string theory. Previous studies have considered such dynamics starting from the cosmological approximation of homogeneous fields, here we include the effects of inhomogeneities by using a real-time lattice field theory simulation. By including spatial variations we are able to simulate the effect of currents and the gauge fields which they source. We identify two different regimes where the inhomogeneities have opposite effects, one where they aid the system to complete the conifold transition and another where they hinder it. The existence of quantized fluxes in related systems has lead to the speculation that (unstable) string solutions could exist, using our simulations we give strong evidence that these string-like defects do not form.