Genericity of Cosmic Strings Formation in SUSY GUTs

Abstract

The idea of GUT implies that the universe went through a series of phase transitions during which topological defects are expected to form. We investigate here the genericity of cosmic strings formation in realistic SUSY GUTs models. We conclude that all acceptable symmetry breaking schemes produce cosmic strings after the last inflationary phase. Generically, as they form at the end of inflation, they have a mass of order of the GUT scale. Since cosmological data coming from CMB measurements do not show evidence for such strings, they constrain GUT scale physics.

Comments: 4 pages, talk at the XXXIX Rencontres de Moriond (La Thuile, March 2004), to appear in the proceedings