The formation rate of semilocal strings

Abstract

We carry out three-dimensional numerical simulations to investigate the formation rate of semilocal strings. We find that the back-reaction of the gauge fields on the scalar field evolution is substantial, and leads to a significant formation rate in the parameter regime where the semilocal strings are classically stable. The formation rate can be as large as a third of that for cosmic strings, depending on the model parameters.

Comments: 5 pages RevTeX file with four figures incorporated (uses RevTeX and epsf). Matches journal version. Colour images and movies can be found at http://www.nersc.gov/~borrill/defects/semilocal.html