Was the physics of the early universe like the physics of a rotating bucket of superfluid helium? Condensed matter physicists know that phase transitions can form exotic topological objects, such as quantized vortices in superfluid helium or vortex lines of magnetic field in superconductors. In recent years cosmologists have been exploring whether analogous phenomena occurred in the early universe. Cosmic strings, remnants of an ultrahightemperature phase transition at may have seeded galaxy formation and could have given rise to other effects observable in the universe today.
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1989
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