Time- and Space-Varying Neutrino Mass Matrix from Soft Topological Defects.

We study the formation and evolution of topological defects that arise in the postrecombination phase transition predicted by the gravitational neutrino mass model in Dvali and Funcke [Phys. Rev. D 93, 113002 (2016)PRVDAQ2470-001010.

Progress on cosmological magnetic fields.

A variety of observations impose upper limits at the nano Gauss level on magnetic fields that are coherent on inter-galactic scales while blazar observations indicate a lower bound ∼10G. Such magnetic fields can play an important astrophysical role, for example at cosmic recombination and during structure formation, and also provide crucial information for particle physics in the early Universe. Magnetic fields with significant energy density could have been produced at the electroweak phase transition.

Monopole-antimonopole: interaction, scattering and creation.

The interaction of a magnetic monopole-antimonopole pair depends on their separation as well as on a second 'twist' degree of freedom. This novel interaction leads to a non-trivial bound state solution known as a sphaleron and to scattering in which the monopole-antimonopoles bounce off each other and do not annihilate. The twist degree of freedom also plays a role in numerical experiments in which gauge waves collide and create monopole-antimonopole pairs.

Decay of Cosmic String Loops due to Particle Radiation.

Constraints on the tension and the abundance of cosmic strings depend crucially on the rate at which they decay into particles and gravitational radiation. We study the decay of cosmic string loops in the Abelian-Higgs model by performing field theory simulations of loop formation and evolution. We find that our set of string loops emits particle radiation primarily due to kink collisions, and that the decay time due to these losses is proportional to L^{p} with p≈2 where L is the loop length.

Creation of Magnetic Monopoles in Classical Scattering.

We consider the creation of 't Hooft-Polyakov magnetic monopoles by scattering classical wave packets of gauge fields. An example with eight clearly separated magnetic poles created with parity violating helical initial conditions is shown. No clear separation of topological charge is observed with corresponding parity symmetric initial conditions.