On cosmological solutions in a spontaneously broken gauge theory

We consider solutions of the Yang-Mills-Higgs system coupled to gravity in asymptotically de Sitter spacetime. The basic features of two classes of solutions are discussed, one of them corresponding to magnetic monopoles, the other one to sphalerons. We find that although the total mass within the cosmological horizon of these configurations is finite, their mass evaluated at timelike infinity generically diverges. Also, no solutions exist in the absence of a Higgs potential.