SPACE-TIME VARIABLE SUPERSTRING VACUA (CALABI-YAU COSMIC YARN)

In a general superstring vacuum configuration, the ''internal'' space (sector) varies in space-time. When this variation is nontrivial only in two spacelike dimensions, the vacuum contains static cosmic strings with finite energy per unit length and which is, up to interactions with matter, an easily computed topological invariant. The total space-time is smooth although the ''internal'' space is singular at the center of each cosmic string. In a similar analysis of the Wick-rotated Euclidean model, these cosmic strings acquire expected self-interactions. Also, a possibility emerges to define a global time in order to rotate back to the Lorentzian case.