Abstract
Cosmic strings, topological remnants of the earlier universe, arise in many grand unified theories. Witten1 showed that under some conditions these strings can behave like superconductors: current is carried by massless charge carriers, which can be either fermions or bosons, that move at the speed of light along the string. These strings are superconductors in the sense that any induced constant current (d.c.) will persist. The persistence is guaranteed by topological index theorems1, but no such theorem exists for alternating currents (a.c.), which can be damped by radiation or (as we report here) can even grow exponentially through dynamo self-interaction. This mechanism converts the mechanical energy of the string into electromagnetic fields.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Witten, E. Nucl. Phys. B249, 557–592 (1985).
Spergel, D. N., Piran, T. & Goodman, J. J. Nucl. Phys. B291, 847–875 (1987).
Aryal, M., Vilenkin, A. & Vachaspati, T. Phys. Lett. B194, 25–29 (1987).
Spergel, D. N., Press, W. H. & Scherrer, R. J. Phys. Rev. D. (submitted).
Kibble, T. W. B. & Turok, N. Phys. Lett. B116, 141–143 (1982).
Turok, N. Nucl. Phys. B242, 520–541 (1984).
Chen, A. L., DiCarlo, D. A. & Hotes, S. A. Phys. Rev. D37, 863–868 (1988).
Burden, C. J. Phys. Lett. B164, 277–281 (1985).
Barr, S. N. & Matheson, A. M. Phys. Rev. D36, 2905–2914 (1987).
Hill, C. T. & Widrow, L. M. Phys. Lett. B189, 17–22 (1987).
Ostriker, J. P., Thompson, C. & Witten, E. Phys. Lett. B180, 231–239 (1986).
Vilenkin, A. & Field, G. B. Nature 326, 772–773 (1986).
Babul, A., Paczynski, B., & Spergel, D. N. Astrophys. J. 316, L49–L54 (1987).
Hill, C. T., Schramm, D. N. & Walker, T. P. Phys. Rev. D36, 1007–1016 (1987).
Chudnofsky, E. M., Field, G. B., Spergel, D. N. & Vilenkin, A. Phys. Rev. D34, 944–950 (1986).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spergel, D., Press, W. & Scherrer, R. Self-excited cosmic string dynamos. Nature 334, 682–683 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/334682a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/334682a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.