Supersymmetric extensions of the standard model generically contain stable non-topological solitons, Q-balls, which carry baryon or lepton number. We show that large Q-balls can be copiously produced in the early universe, can survive until the present time, and can contribute to dark matter. CERN-TH/97-259 September, 1997 ∗ email address: [email protected] ∗∗ email address: mshaposh@nx...

It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological quantum field theory provided a certain constraint from the path integral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for space time dimensions different from 3. We then discuss possible models which may be relevant to our universe. E-mail: [email protected]

Symmetry-breaking phase transitions may leave behind topological defects [1] with a density dependent on the quench rate [2]. We investigate the dynamics of such quenches for the one-dimensional, Landau-Ginzburg case and show that the density of kinks, n, scales differently with the quench timescale, τQ, depending on whether the dynamics in the vicinity of the critical point is overdamped (n ∝ ...

Multi–connected universe models with space identification scales smaller than the size of the observable universe produce topological images of cosmic sources. We generalise to locally hyperbolic spaces the crystallographic method, aimed to detect the topology from three– dimensional catalogs of cosmological objects. Our new method is based on the construction of a collecting–cor-related–pair t...

We discuss the potential cosmological role of gravitational wave astronomy as a probe of the very early universe. The next generation of detectors—now in production—may be able to observe a stochastic background of gravitational waves produced by violent processes during the earliest moments after the creation of the universe. Viable theoretical scenarios within detector sensititivity include s...

We consider the brane universe in the bulk background of the charged topological AdS black holes. The evolution of the brane universe is described by the Friedmann equations for a flat or an open FRW-universe containing radiation and stiff matter. We find that the temperature and entropy of the dual CFT are simply expressed in terms of the Hubble parameter and its time derivative, and the Fried...

The global topology of the three-space is not fixed by Einstein general relativity, since this is formulated in terms of local differential equations. Einstein’s first static cosmological models used for the space-part of the universe a simply connected sphere S3. With present-day cosmological information it becomes possible to propose and test multiply-connected topologies for the space-part o...

The new element of theory of galaxy formation, strong primordial inhomogeneities, is shown to be a reflection of unstable large scale structures of topological defects, created in second order phase transitions in the inflationary Universe. In addition to archioles-like large scale correlation of the primordial inhomogeneity of energy density of coherent scalar field oscillations, the same mech...

An introductory account is given of the modern understanding of the physics of the early Universe. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradigm of cosmological inflation, which postulates a period of accelerated expansion during the Universe’s earliest stages. Inflation provides a possible origin for structure in the Universe, such as microwave background anisotropies, galaxies and galaxy clus...