Cosmic string: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:24, 7 August 2023

Revision as of 19:10, 7 August 2023

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{{distinguish|text=[[String (physics)]], the subject of [[string theory]]}}

{{Technical|date=May 2021}}

'''Cosmic strings''' are hypothetical 1-dimensional [[topological defect]]s which may have formed during a [[Symmetry breaking|symmetry-breaking]] [[cosmological phase transitionstransition|phase transition]] in the early universe when the [[topology]] of the [[Vacuum state|vacuum]] manifold associated to this symmetry breaking was not [[Simply connected space|simply connected]]. Their existence was first contemplated by the theoretical physicist [[Tom Kibble]] in the 1970s.<ref name="Kibble 1976">{{cite journal |doi=10.1088/0305-4470/9/8/029 |title=Topology of cosmic domains and strings |year=1976 |last1=Kibble |first1=Tom W K |journal= Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General |volume=9 |issue=8 |pages=1387–1398 |bibcode=1976JPhA....9.1387K }}</ref>

The formation of cosmic strings is somewhat analogous to the imperfections that form between crystal grains in solidifying liquids, or the cracks that form when water freezes into ice. The phase transitions leading to the production of cosmic strings are likely to have occurred during the earliest moments of the universe's evolution, just after [[cosmological inflation]], and are a fairly generic prediction in both [[quantum field theory]] and [[string theory]] models of the [[early universe]].