Topological Defects  

In General > s.a. [Defects]; einstein-cartan; quantum systems; torsion.
* Origin: They may form whenever a symmetry breaking phase transition occurs.
* Examples: Vortex lines in type II superconductors or liquid helium; declination lines in liquid crystals; Phase transitions in the early universe; 4-theory kinks and Sine-Gordon solitons as domain walls in 1+1 dimensions.
* Classification: To study the kinds of defects that a field can have, consider the field as a map : M 3\ X → V, where M 3 is a connected, orientable, compact 3-manifold, X a set of defects, and V a topological space; Then cannot have (i) point defects if 2 (M 3\ X) = 0; (ii) line defects if 1(M 3\ X) = 0; (iii) wall defects if 0(M 3\ X) = 0.
@ References: Hindmarsh & Rajantie PRL(00) [formation, in U(1) gauge theory]; Blasone et al mp/04-in [in quantum field theory]; Lubo PRD(05)hp/04 [and Lorentz-breaking theory]; Vitiello a0807 [in quantum field theory, fractals and coherent states].

Cosmological Defects, Theory > s.a. cosmic strings; monopoles.
* Necklaces: A type of hybrid topological defect.
@ General references: Vilenkin in(97)ap/96; París & Roca NPB(98)ht/97 [effective dynamics], ht/98 [supersymmetric]; Olasagasti PRD(01) [gravitational field]; Borsanyi & Hindmarsh PRD(08) [semiclassical decay].
@ Domain walls: Chamblin & Eardley PLB(00)ht/99 [punctures]; Cvetic & Wang PRD(00)ht/99 [in d dimensions]; Bento & Lemos PRD(01)gq [and gravitational radiation]; Pogosian & Vachaspati PRD(03)ht/02; Vachaspati ht/02-ln; > s.a. cosmological acceleration.
@ Domain wall neworks: Avelino et al PLB(05) [evolution, simulations], PRD(06) [junctions and dynamics]; Eto et al PRD(07).
@ Textures: Turok PRL(89); Spergel & Turok SA(92)mar; Durrer & Zhou PRL(95) [structure formation]; Garcia de Andrade gq/99 [teleparallel]; Lichtensteiger & Durrer PRD(99)ap [static]; Chakraborty & Rahaman NCB(00) [gravitational fields]; Speight LMP(05) [homotopy classification]; Cruz et al Sci(07)-a0710 + pw(07)oct [and cmb].
@ Necklaces: Berezinsky & Vilenkin PRL(97)ap [and UHECR]; Siemens et al NPB(01).
@ Related topics: Carroll & Trodden PRD(98)ht/97 [Dirichlet]; Cho & Vilenkin PRD(99), PRD(99)gq/98 [vacuumless]; Davis et al JHEP(00)hl [in lattice gauge theory]; Kholodenko JGP(00) [2+1]; Aharonov & Reznik PRL(00) [local/non-local duality]; Bowick et al JHEP(03) [of various dimensions]; Stoica a0708-in [and brane inflation].

Cosmological Defects, Phenomenology
@ General references: Vachaspati hp/97-ln [formation], 98, ap/99-ln, hp/01-ln; Jiang & Duan JMP(00)ht/99 [classifocation]; Kibble cm/02-ln; Sakellariadou hp/02-in; Rajantie CP(03)ap.
@ Large-scale structure: Durrer et al PRP(02)ap/01; Bevis et al PRD(04)ap [WMAP].
@ Cosmological phase transitions: Lilley & Ferrera PRD(01) [first-order]; Stephens hp/01-PhD; > s.a. phase transitions.
@ And cmb anisotropy: Riazuelo et al PRD(00)ap/99; Bouchet et al PRD(02); Fraisse ap/05/PRL [bounds from WMAP data].
@ Domain walls as dark energy: Friedland et al PRD(03)ap/02; Avelino et al PRD(06).
@ Other effects: Marques & Bezerra PRD(02) [H atom energy levels].

In Solid State Physics and Other Fields > s.a. Defects.
@ Defects in the lab: Zurek PRP(96)cm; Vachaspati CP(98)hp; Kibble cm/01-in, cm/02-in, PT(07)sep.
@ Liquid crystals: Sci < 1996 [simulations]; Ray & Srivastava PRD(04)ht/01 [correlations].

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