Cosmic Strings
An Overview and Comparison by Dr. David Lewis Anderson
| Cosmic Strings are a hypothetical 1-dimensional
(spatially) topological defect in the fabric of spacetime left
over from the formation of the universe. Interaction could
create fields of closed time-like curves permitting backwards
time travel. Some scientists have suggested using "cosmic strings" to construct a time machine. By maneuvering two cosmic strings close together – or possibly just one string plus a black hole – it is theoretically possible to create a whole array of "closed time-like curves." Your best bet is to fire two infinitely long cosmic strings past each other at very high speeds, then fly your ship around them in a carefully calculated figure eight. In theory, you would be able to emerge anywhere, anytime! At the moment, these are purely theoretical objects that might possibly be left over from the creation of the universe in the Big Bang. A black hole contains a one-dimensional singularity – an infinitely small point in the space-time continuum. A cosmic string, if such a thing existed, would be a two-dimensional infinitely thin line that has even stranger effects on the fabric of space and time. Although no one has actually found a cosmic string, astronomers have suggested that they may explain strange effects seen in distant galaxies.  A cosmic string is a 1-dimensional (spatially) topological defect in various fields. Cosmic strings are hypothesized to form when the field undergoes a phase change in different regions of spacetime, resulting in condensations of energy density at the boundaries between regions. This is somewhat analogous to the imperfections that form between crystal grains in solidifying liquids, or the cracks that form when water freezes into ice. The phase changes that produce cosmic strings may have occurred in the earliest moments of the universe's evolution. The key characteristics of the application of cosmic strings for time control and time travel are presented in the picture below. This is followed by more detail describing the theory below.  Cosmic strings, if they exist, would be extremely thin with diameters on the same order as a proton. They would have immense density, however, and so would represent significant gravitational sources. A cosmic string 1.6 kilometers in length may be heavier than the Earth. However general relativity predicts that the gravitational potential of a straight string vanishes: there is no gravitational force on static surrounding matter. The only gravitational effect of a straight cosmic string is a relative deflection of matter (or light) passing the string on opposite sides (a purely topological effect). A closed loop of cosmic string gravitates in a more conventional way. During the expansion of the universe, cosmic strings would form a network of loops, and their gravity could have been responsible for the original clumping of matter into galactic superclusters. A cosmic string's vibrations, which would oscillate near the speed of light, can cause part of the string to pinch off into an isolated loop. These loops have a finite lifespan due to decay via gravitational radiation. Other types of topological defects in spacetime are domain walls, monopoles, and textures. Observational evidence
Gravitational lensing of a galaxy by a straight section of a cosmic string would produce two identical, undistorted images of the galaxy. In 2003 a group led by Mikhail Sazhin reported the accidental discovery of two seemingly identical galaxies very close together in the sky, leading to speculation that a cosmic string had been found. However, observations by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 2005 showed them to be a pair of similar galaxies, not two images of the same galaxy. A cosmic string would produce a similar duplicate image of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, which might be detectable by the upcoming Planck Surveyor mission.
However, a team of astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics led by Rudolph Schild studied the quasar and found that during the period between September 1994 and July 1995 the two images appeared to have no time delay; changes in the brightness of the two images occurred simultaneously on four separate occasions. Schild and his team believe that the only explanation for this observation is that a cosmic string passed between the Earth and the quasar during that time period traveling at very high speed and oscillating with a period of about 100 days. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and upcoming gravitational wave observatories will search for cosmic strings as well as other phenomenon with the byproduct of gravitational waves. String theory and cosmic stringsThere is no direct connection between string theory and the theory of cosmic strings (the names were chosen independently by analogy with ordinary string). However, work in string theory revived interest in cosmic strings in the early 2000s. In 2002 Henry Tye and collaborators observed the production of cosmic strings during the last stages of brane inflation. It was also pointed out by string theorist Joseph Polchinski that the expanding Universe could have stretched a "fundamental" string (the sort which superstring theory considers) until it was of intergalactic size. Such a stretched string would exhibit many of the properties of the old "cosmic" string variety, making the older calculations useful again. Furthermore, modern superstring theories offer other objects which could feasibly resemble cosmic strings, such as highly elongated one-dimensional D-branes (known as "D-strings"). As theorist Tom Kibble remarks, "string theory cosmologists have discovered cosmic strings lurking everywhere in the undergrowth". Older proposals for detecting cosmic strings could now be used to investigate superstring theory.
Note that most of these proposals depend, however, on the appropriate cosmological fundamentals (strings, branes, etc.), and no convincing experimental verification of these has been performed. |
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