Evolution of a domain wall in expanding universe: inflation and after it

Abstract

We study the evolution of thick domain walls in the expanding universe. We have found that the domain wall evolution crucially depends on the time-dependent parameter C(t) = 1/(H(t)δ0)2, where H(t) is the Hubble parameter and δ0 is the width of the wall in flat space-time. For C(t) > 2 the physical width of the wall, a(t)δ(t), tends with time to constant value δ0, which is microscopically small. Otherwise, when C(t) ≤ 2, the wall steadily expands and can grow up to a cosmologically large size.