Vortex Scattering and Intercommuting Cosmic Strings on a Noncommutative Spacetime

Abstract

We study the scattering of noncommutative vortices, based on the noncommutative field theory developed in [Phys. Rev. D 75, 045009 (2007)], as a way to understand the interaction of cosmic strings. In the center-of-mass frame, the effects of noncommutativity vanish, and therefore the reconnection of cosmic strings occurs in an identical manner to the commutative case. However, when scattering occurs in a frame other than the center-of-mass frame, strings still reconnect but the well known 90-degree scattering no longer need correspond to the head on collision of the strings, due to the breakdown of Lorentz invariance in the underlying noncommutative field theory.