Talk detail

Participant	Kleman, Maurice
Institution	Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris - 1 rue Jussieu - Paris - Paris - France

Session	ST3	Accepted		Order	Time
Talk	Oral abstract	Title	Continuous 2D defects in spacetime
Co-authors
Abstract	The topological theory and the Volterra process are key tools for the classification of quantized and continuous defects in Condensed Matter Physics (CMP). We employ the same methods to classify the defects of various dimensionalities of a 4D maximally symmetric spacetime. We concentrate on cosmic forms, which are continuous 2D defects falling into three classes: i)- m-forms, akin to 3D space disclinations and Kibble's cosmic strings; ii)- t-forms, related to hyperbolic rotations; iii)- r-forms, to null rotations. Analogies and differences with CMP disclination theory are discussed. m-forms are compatible with the usual cosmological principle, t- and r-forms demand spacetime homogeneity, and thus are typical of a vacuum in a de Sitter spacetime. Cosmic forms may assemble into networks generating vanishing curvature.