Dynamical Prevention of Topological Defect Formation
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912826938884096 |
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| author | Lee, Junseok Murai, Kai Nakayama, Kazunori Takahashi, Fuminobu |
| author_facet | Lee, Junseok Murai, Kai Nakayama, Kazunori Takahashi, Fuminobu |
| contents | Topological defects can have significant cosmological consequences, so their production must be examined carefully. It is usually assumed that topological defects are produced if the temperature becomes sufficiently high, but in reality their formation depends on the post-inflationary dynamics of a symmetry-breaking scalar. We analyze the dynamics of a symmetry-breaking scalar field in the early universe within models that provide an effective negative mass term at the origin, and show that the symmetry can remain broken so that topological defects are never formed. In particular, we demonstrate that nonthermally produced particles (such as the Standard Model Higgs) during preheating can generate such an effective negative mass term, allowing the scalar field to follow a time-dependent minimum even in renormalizable models with a quartic coupling. We also discuss the implications of this result for the Peccei-Quinn scalar in axion models. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_24811 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Dynamical Prevention of Topological Defect Formation Lee, Junseok Murai, Kai Nakayama, Kazunori Takahashi, Fuminobu High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Topological defects can have significant cosmological consequences, so their production must be examined carefully. It is usually assumed that topological defects are produced if the temperature becomes sufficiently high, but in reality their formation depends on the post-inflationary dynamics of a symmetry-breaking scalar. We analyze the dynamics of a symmetry-breaking scalar field in the early universe within models that provide an effective negative mass term at the origin, and show that the symmetry can remain broken so that topological defects are never formed. In particular, we demonstrate that nonthermally produced particles (such as the Standard Model Higgs) during preheating can generate such an effective negative mass term, allowing the scalar field to follow a time-dependent minimum even in renormalizable models with a quartic coupling. We also discuss the implications of this result for the Peccei-Quinn scalar in axion models. |
| title | Dynamical Prevention of Topological Defect Formation |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.24811 |