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  • Access by Xinjiang University

Cosmic-string loop self-intersections and intercommuting

Tanmay Vachaspati

  • Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW, Great Britain

Phys. Rev. D 39, 1768 – Published 15 March, 1989

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.39.1768

Abstract

We find that the self-intersection of a closed curve (loop) is characterized by a jump in the self-linkage number of the loop. This is used to study the self-intersections of a mathematical closed curve evolving according to the Nambu action. We also show that segments of cosmic string cannot simply pass through one another at a self-intersection. Instead, intercommuting is found to be energetically favorable in the case of untwisted global strings.

References (11)

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