The Stability of D-term Cosmic Strings

TL;DR

This paper reviews and proves the semi-classical stability of positive deficit angle D-term cosmic string solutions in D=4, N=1 supergravity, highlighting the stability criteria and energy conditions involved.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous proof of the semi-classical stability of positive deficit angle D-term strings using positive energy theorem techniques.

Findings

Positive deficit angle D-term strings are semi-classically stable.

Negative deficit angle D-term strings violate energy conditions and are unstable.

Stability is established within the framework of supergravity and energy theorems.

Abstract

In this note, which is based on hep-th/0611111, we review the stability of the static, positive deficit angle D-term string solutions of D=4, N=1 supergravity with a constant Fayet-Iliopoulos term. We prove the semi-classical stability of this class of solutions using standard positive energy theorem techniques. In particular, we discuss how the negative deficit angle D-term string, which also solves the Killing spinor equations, violates the dominant energy condition and so is excluded from our arguments.