Cosmic strings represent an intriguing class of topological defects that form in many scenarios of new physics in the early Universe. Recently, the possibility of cosmic strings supporting a nonvanishing current at their core has attracted some attention in the literature. In particular, it has been pointed out that current-carrying cosmic strings can evolve into an ensemble of effectively stable remnants called vortons. The purpose of this two-hour impromptu workshop is to review the dynamics of current-carrying cosmic strings, vortons, and their implications for other aspects of physics beyond the standard model such as dark matter and axion physics.

Program:

• [17:00–17:30] Talk #1: Ofri Telem
  Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07G06w9YQs0
  Axion strings are superconducting
  Hajime Fukuda, Aneesh V. Manohar, Hitoshi Murayama, Ofri Telem
  https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.02763
• [17:30–18:00] Talk #2: Yu Hamada
  Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcaaqfnx8X0
  Electroweak axion string and superconductivity
  Yoshihiko Abe, Yu Hamada, Koichi Yoshioka
  https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.02834
• [18:00–18:30] Talk #3: Pierre Auclair
  Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6nXO2UM98g
  Irreducible cosmic production of relic vortons
  Pierre Auclair, Patrick Peter, Christophe Ringeval, Daniele Steer
  https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.04620
• [18:30–19:00] Discussion

Each talk will consist of a 15' presentation and 15' for discussion. All presentations will be recorded and uploaded to https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtualAxionInstitute. The discussion sessions will not be recorded.

We strongly encourage everyone interested in this meeting to register so that we can gauge the expected size of the audience.

Zoom link: https://cern.zoom.us/j/xxxxxxxxxxx
Passcode: [Inverse fine structure constant] <> [electron mass / 1 keV] (both rounded to three digits)