Abstract
The notions of phase transitions and causality, combined with the standard cosmological model, lead to the appearance of topological defects in the early universe. The most familiar types of defects are solitons, strings, and domain walls. Another type can exist when the spatial universe is compact. When these appear the whole universe takes on a winding number, and the consequences are quite amusing; for example, it is possible that a closed universe can mimic open or flat universes. Another possibility is that the vacuum has a nonabelian magnetic field strength at all points in the universe.
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Davis, R. L., in preparation.
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This essay received the fifth award from the Gravity Research Foundation for the year 1986-Ed.
Work supported by the Department of Energy, contract DE-AC03-76SF00515.
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Davis, R.L. Cosmological textures. Gen Relat Gravit 19, 331–337 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00767272
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00767272