Tufts/CfA/MIT Cosmology Seminar, at Tufts:

Julian Borrill, Dartmouth College

Title: How Long Is A Piece Of String? 

Abstract:
Cosmic strings formed at a phase transition in the very early history of
the universe may be the source of the primordial density perturbations
needed to seed large scale structure formation and seen on the microwave
sky by COBE. Assessing the viability of such models requires a knowledge
of the initial distribution of strings, typically gained from Monte Carlo
computer simulations of their formation. Having reviewed the strengths and
limitations of the standard algorithm I present the intriguing results of
a new, lattice-free, approach.