Cosmic strings from pure Yang-Mills theory

Understand

We discuss the formation of cosmic strings or macroscopic color flux tubes at the phase transition from the deconfinement to confinement phase in pure Yang-Mills (YM) theory, such as SU($N$), Sp($N$), SO($N$), and Spin($N$), based on the current understanding of theoretical physics.

• According to the holographic dual descriptions, the cosmic strings are dual to fundamental strings or wrapped D-branes in the gravity side depending on the structure of the gauge group, and the reconnection probability is suppressed by $\mathcal{O}(N^{-2})$ and $e^{-\mathcal{O}(N)}$, respectively.
• The pure YM theory thus provides a simple realization of cosmic F- and D-strings without the need for a brane-inflationary scenario or extra dimension.
• We also review the stability of cosmic strings based on the concept of 1-form symmetry, which further implies the existence of a baryon vertex in some YM theory.