Scaling in a SU(2)/Z_3 model of cosmic superstring networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates a field theory model of cosmic superstring networks with junctions, demonstrating through simulations that such networks tend toward a scaling regime without dominating early universe energy density.

Contribution

It introduces a specific SU(2)/Z_3 model for superstring networks with junctions and provides numerical evidence of their scaling behavior.

Findings

Networks tend towards a scaling regime proportional to time

Junctions do not cause energy density domination

Numerical simulations support the scaling hypothesis

Abstract

Motivated by recent developments in superstring theory in the cosmological context, we examine a field theory which contains string networks with 3-way junctions. We perform numerical simulations of this model, identify the length scales of the network that forms, and provide evidence that the length scales tend towards a scaling regime, growing in proportion to time. We infer that the presence of junctions does not in itself cause a superstring network to dominate the energy density of the early Universe.