Angle deficit and nonlocal gravitoelectromagnetism around a slowly spinning cosmic string

Abstract

Cosmic strings, as remnants of the symmetry breaking phase in the Early universe, may be susceptible to nonlocal physics. Here, we show that the presence of a Poincaré-invariant nonlocality—parametrized by a factor [Formula: see text]—regularizes the gravitational field and thereby changes the properties of spacetime: it is now simply connected and the angle deficit around the cosmic string becomes a function of the radial distance. Similar changes occur for the nonlocal gravitomagnetic field of a rotating cosmic string, and we translate these mathematical facts into the language of nonlocal gravitoelectromagnetism and thereby provide a physical interpretation. We hope that these insights might provide a helpful perspective in the search for traces of nonlocal physics in our universe.