Thesis

Coding the Cosmos: Simulating Superstrings in the GPU Era

• Call:

  PT-CERN Call 2020/2

• Academic Year:

  2020/2021

• Domain:

  Astroparticle Physics

• Supervisor:

  Carlos Martins

• Co-Supervisor:

• Institution:

  Universidade do Porto

• Host Institution:

  Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto

• Abstract:

  Cosmic strings arise naturally in many proposed new physics beyond the standard model such as Grand Unified Theories, inflation and even string theory. This has obvious benefices since most of new physics require such high energies that are currently unavailable at current accelerators and Cosmic strings offer a new window into the early Universe that could be tested with current and next-generation facilities such as CORE and LISA. However, there is a bottleneck in the lack of accurate high-resolution simulations of defect networks that can be used as templates for robust statistical analysis. Most numerical simulations so far have been performed for the simplest Abelian-Higgs (or Nambu-Goto) model while realistic cosmic strings are expected to have non-trivial internal structure, includng charges and currents. The scientific goal of the thesis is to fill this gap. This thesis will continue the development of a new generation of high-scalability defect evolution codes that will match the sensitivity of ongoing and forthcoming observational searches.