Phase transition induced by cosmic strings

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Abstract
It is shown that gauge-theory strings can alter the nature of a cosmic phase transition. An otherwise first-order transition is converted to a smooth one and supercooling is precluded. Unlike the simplest string configurations, the full symmetry group is not restored in the core of the strings responsible for this phenomenon. Bubbles of true vacuum nucleate on strings by a real-time evolution rather than quantum tunneling, and then begin to grow at the speed of light. Implications for cosmology are discussed, and conditions needed to produce the observed smooth Universe are derived.