The equation which governs the temporal evolution of a gravitational wave (GW) in curved space-time can be treated as the Schrodinger equation for a particle moving in the presence of an effective potential. When GWs propagate in an expanding Universe with constant effective potential, there is a critical value (k_c) of the comoving wave-number which discriminates the metric perturbations into oscillating (k > k_c) and non-oscillating (k < k_c) modes. As a consequence, if the non-oscillatory modes are outside the horizon they do not freeze out. The effective potential is reduced to a non-vanishing constant in a cosmological model which is driven by a two-component fluid, consisting of radiation (dominant) and cosmic strings (sub-dominant). It is known that the cosmological evolution gradually results in the scaling of a cosmic-string network and, therefore, after some time (\Dl \ta) the Universe becomes radiation-dominated. The evolution of the non-oscillatory GW modes during \Dl \ta (while they were outside the horizon), results in the distortion of the GW power spectrum from what it is anticipated in a pure radiation-model, at present-time frequencies in the range 10^{-16} Hz < f < 10^5 Hz.
We examine the shadow cast by a Kerr black hole pierced by a cosmic string. The observable images depend not only on the black hole spin parameter and the angle of inclination, but also on the deficit angle yielded by the cosmic string. The dependence of the observable characteristics of the shadow on the deficit angle is explored. The imprints in the black hole shadow left by the presence of a cosmic string can serve as a method for observational detection of such strings.
It has been shown that the spectrum of quantum gravity contains at least two new modes in addition to the massless graviton: a massive spin-0 and a massive spin-2. We calculate their power spectrum during inflation and we argue that they could leave an imprint in the cosmic microwave background should their masses be below the inflationary scale.
We consider a modification of the Heisenberg algebra with the non-vanishing commutator of scalar field operators. We then identify the scalar field with the second quantized inflaton fluctuation and calculate effects of microcausality violation on the temperature anisotropy of cosmic microwave background radiation.
A cosmological gauge field with isotropic stress-energy introduces parity violation into the behavior of gravitational waves. We show that a primordial spectrum of inflationary gravitational waves develops a preferred handedness, left- or right-circularly polarized, depending on the abundance and coupling of the gauge field during the radiation era. A modest abundance of the gauge field would induce parity-violating correlations of the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization patterns that could be detected by current and future experiments.
An alternative to the standard cold dark matter model has been recently proposed in which a significant fraction of the energy density of the universe is due to a dynamical scalar field ($Q$) whose effective equation-of-state differs from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($Λ$). In this paper, we determine how the Q-component modifies the primordial inflation gravitational wave (tensor metric) contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy and, thereby, one of the key tests of inflation.
We initiate a study on various cosmological imprints of string axions whose scalar potentials have plateau regions. In such cases, we show that a delayed onset of oscillation generically leads to a parametric resonance instability. In particular, for ultralight axions, the parametric resonance can enhance the power spectrum slightly below the Jeans scale, alleviating the tension with the Lyman $α$ forest observations. We also argue that a long-lasting resonance can lead to an emission of gravitational waves at the frequency bands which are detectable by gravitational wave interferometers and p…
We study some of the cosmological imprints of pre-inflationary particles. We show that each such particle provides a seed for a spherically symmetric cosmic defect. The profile of this cosmic defect is fixed and its magnitude is linear in a single parameter that is determined by the mass of the pre-inflationary particle. We study the CMB and peculiar velocity imprints of this cosmic defect and suggest that it could explain some of the large scale cosmological anomalies.
Apart from the known weak gravitational lensing effect, the cosmic magnification acquires relativistic corrections owing to Doppler, integrated Sachs-Wolfe, time-delay and other (local) gravitational potential effects, respectively. These corrections grow on very large scales and high redshifts z, which will be the reach of forthcoming surveys. In this work, these relativistic corrections are investigated in the magnification angular power spectrum, using both (standard) noninteracting dark energy (DE), and interacting DE (IDE). It is found that for noninteracting DE, the relativistic correcti…
We study the imprints of anisotropic inflation on the CMB temperature fluctuations and polarizations. The statistical anisotropy stems not only from the direction dependence of curvature and tensor perturbations, but also from the cross correlation between curvature and tensor perturbations, and the linear polarization of tensor perturbations. We show that off-diagonal $TB$ and $EB$ spectrum as well as on- and off-diagonal $TT, EE, BB, TE$ spectrum are induced from anisotropic inflation. We emphasize that the off-diagonal spectrum induced by the cross correlation could be a characteristic sign…
Distributional sources of cosmic walls crossed by cosmic strings from Riemann-Cartan (RC) Geometry. The matter density of the planar wall is maximum at the point where the cosmic string crosses the cosmic wall. Cartan torsion is has a support on the cosmic string given by the Dirac $ δ$-function. Off the sources are left with a torsionless vacuum.
Early dark energy that relieves Hubble tension leaves a fingerprint in the primordial stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background that originates from cosmic string network. The signal is not only detectable with future planned GW experiments, but also distinguishable from other astrophysical and cosmological signals in the GW frequency spectrum. We find that the cosmic string GW spectrum can probe other new physics that influence the universe in post-Big-Bang-Nucleosynthesis with mid-band GW detection, which extends GW cosmic archaeology search region.
The possible imprint of quantum decoherence, in the framework of cosmology, is here investigated. Particular attention is paid to the observational fact that entanglement could lead to the interaction of different eras of cosmic evolution. The role played by decoherence provides the existence of "quantum entanglement" between cosmological eras giving, as observational results, dynamical constraints on the corresponding cosmological models.
Dark energy interacting with dark matter is a promising model to solve the cosmic coincidence problem. We study the signature of such interaction on large scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. Based on the detail analysis in perturbation equations of dark energy and dark matter when they are in interaction, we find that the large scale CMB, especially the late Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect, is a useful tool to measure the coupling between dark sectors. We also discuss the possibility to detect the coupling by cross-correlating CMB maps with tracers of the large scal…
We consider a local cosmic string described by the Abelian-Higgs model in the framework of scalar-tensor gravities. We find the metric of the cosmic string in the weak-field approximation. The propagation of particles and light is analysed in this background. This analysis shows that the (unperturbed) cosmic string in scalar-tensor theories presents some analogous features to the wiggly cosmic string in General Relativity.
The exact metric around a wiggly cosmic string is found by modifying the energy momentum-tensor of a straight infinitely thin cosmic string to include an electric current along the symmetry axis.
The spontaneous loss of angular momentum of a spinning cosmic string due to particle emission is discussed. The rate of particle production between two assymptotic spacetimes: the spinning cosmic string spacetime in the infinite past and a non-spinning cosmic string spacetime in the infinite future is calculated.
We extend the work done for cosmic strings and show that for a more general class of locally flat metrics the one loop calculation do not introduce any new divergences to the VEV of the energy of a scalar particle. We explicitly perform the calculation for the configuration where we have one cosmic string in the presence of a dipole made out of cosmic strings.
We find a class of solutions of Einstein's field equations representing spacetime outside a spinning cosmic string surrounded by a gas of non-spinning cosmic strings, and show that there exist closed timelike geodesics in this spacetime.
Topological defects experimentally induced by rotational dynamics in a continuous media replicate the coherent structure features of cosmic strings as well as hadrons.
We study massless cosmic strings which are one-dimensional objects moving with the speed of light. Perturbations of velocities of test bodies and anisotropy of cosmic microwave background generated by massless cosmic strings are analysed. These phenomena are analogous to the string wake effect and the Kaiser-Stebbins effect for standard (massive) cosmic strings. There are two regimes depending on the energy $E$ of a massless string per unit length. At low energies, $EG/c^4\ll 1$, massless and massive strings act similarly. At high energies, $EG/c^4 \sim 1$, massless string effects are quite di…
An implicit, fully characteristic, numerical scheme for solving the field equations of a cosmic string coupled to gravity is described. The inclusion of null infinity as part of the numerical grid allows us to apply suitable boundary conditions on the metric and matter fields to suppress unphysical divergent solutions. The code is tested by comparing the results with exact solutions, checking that static cosmic string initial data remain constant when evolved and undertaking a time dependent convergence analysis of the code. It is shown that the code is accurate, stable and exhibits clear seco…
Circular massless cosmic strings which move with the speed of light in the de Sitter universe are described. Construction of the background geometry is based on parabolic isometries of the de Sitter spacetime. Microscopic circular cosmic strings may appear at the Planck epoch and then grow up to the Hubble size. We analyze: images of the strings, influence of strings on trajectories of matter, formation of overdensities, and shifts of energies of photons. These effects allow one to discriminate massless strings from their massive cousins. The present work extends our results on straight massle…
Dirac equation for a general black hole metric having a cosmic string is derived. The quasi-normal mode frequencies for Schwarzschild, RN extremal, SdS and near extremal SdS black hole space-times with cosmic string perturbed by a massless Dirac field are obtained using WKB approximation and found that in all these cases, decay is less in black holes having cosmic string compared to black holes with out string.
Gravitational and massless particle radiation of straight cosmic strings with finite thickness is studied analytically. It is found that the non-linear interaction of the radiation fields emitted by a cosmic string with the ones of the string always makes the spacetime singular at the symmetry axis. The singularity is not removable and is a scalar one.
The interaction of a cosmic string and a maximally charged dilatonic black hole is studied in the low-velocity limit. In particular, the string-black hole scattering at a low velocity is investigated.
We extend the work done for cosmic strings on the perturbative calculation of vacuum polarization of a massless field in the space-time of multiple cosmic strings and show that for a more general class of locally flat metrics the one loop calculation do not introduce any new divergences to the VEV of the energy of a scalar particle or a spinor particle. We explicitly perform the calculation for the configuration where we have one cosmic string in the presence of a dipole made out of cosmic strings both for the scalar and the spinor cases.
We study the interaction of a massless quantized spinor field with the gravitational filed of N parallel static cosmic strings by using a perturbative approach. We show that the presence of more than one cosmic string gives rise to an additional contribution to the energy density of vacuum fluctuations, thereby leading to a vacuum force attraction between two parallel cosmic strings.
Proposed third generation gravitational wave (GW) interferometers such as Cosmic Explorer will have the sensitivity to observe double neutron star (DNS) mergers up to a redshift of $\sim 5$ with good signal to noise ratios. We argue that the comoving spatial distribution of DNS mergers leaves a unique imprint on the statistical distribution of signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of the detected DNS mergers. Hence the SNR distribution of DNS mergers will facilitate a novel probe of their redshift evolution independent of the luminosity distance measurements. We consider detections of DNS mergers by t…
We investigate a local cosmic string with a phenomenological energy momentum tensor as prescribed by Vilenkin, in presence of C-field . The solutions of full nonlinear Einstein's equations for exterior and interior regions of such a string are presented.
Exact solutions of N=2 supergravity in five dimensions are found in the metric with cylindrical symmetry, a particular case corresponds to the exterior of a cosmic string.
In this work the gravitational lensing in the strong field limit around the Schwarzschild black hole pierced by a cosmic string is studied. We find that the deflection angle and the time delay of the relativistic images depend on the tension of cosmic string. It is interesting that the deflection angle is greater when the tension of cosmic string is stronger. The time delay between two images is more obvious in the case of weaker tension.
We examine the possibility that a significant component of the energy density of the universe has an equation-of-state different from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($Λ$). An example is a cosmic scalar field evolving in a potential, but our treatment is more general. Including this component alters cosmic evolution in a way that fits current observations well. Unlike $Λ$, it evolves dynamically and develops fluctuations, leaving a distinctive imprint on the microwave background anisotropy and mass power spectrum.
By employing the moduli space approximation, we analytically calculate the gravitational wave signatures emitted upon the merger of two extremally charged dilatonic black holes. We probe several values of the dilatonic coupling constant $a$, and find significant departures from the Einstein--Maxwell ($a=0$) counterpart studied in arXiv:1704.08520. For (low energy) string theory black holes $(a=1)$ there are no coalescence orbits and only a memory effect is observed, whereas for an intermediate value of the coupling $(a=1/\sqrt{3})$ the late-time merger signature becomes exponentially suppresse…
When a subdominant light scalar field ends slow roll during inflation, but well after the Hubble exit of the pivot scales, it may determine the cosmological perturbations. This thesis investigates how such a scalar field, the spectator, may leave its impact on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation and be consequently constrained. We first introduce the observables of the CMB, namely the power spectrum $P_ζ$, spectral index $n_s$ and its running $dn_s/d\ln k$, the non-Gaussianities $f_{NL}$, $g_{NL}$ and $τ_{NL}$, and the lack of isocurvature and polarization modes. Based on these stu…
Inflationary models predict a correlation between primordial density perturbations (scalar metric perturbations) and gravitational waves (tensor metric perturbations) in the form of a scalar-scalar-tensor three-point correlation, or bispectrum in Fourier space. The squeezed limit of this bispectrum implies a quadrupolar asymmetry in the observed local power spectrum for matter and galaxies. Here we show (like others before) that an infrared divergence in the amplitude of this power asymmetry predicted in single-field slow-roll models is canceled by projection effects when considering the obser…
Special multi-cosmic string metrics are analytically extended to describe configurations of Wheeler-Misner wormholes and ordinary cosmic strings. I investigate in detail the case of flat, asymptotically Minkowskian, Wheeler-Misner wormhole spacetimes generated by two cosmic strings, each with tension $-1/4G$.
Global U(1) strings with cylindrical symmetry are studied in anti-de Sitter spacetime. According as the magnitude of negative cosmological constant, they form regular global cosmic strings, extremal black cosmic strings and charged black cosmic strings, but no curvature singularity is involved. The relationship between the topological charge of a neutral global string and the black hole charge is clarified by duality transformation. Physical relevance as straight string is briefly discussed.
We discuss the possibility that the detection of gravitational waves emitted by compact stars may allow to constrain the MIT bag model of quark matter equation of state. Our results show that the combined knowledge of the frequency of the emitted gravitational wave and of the mass, or the radiation radius, of the source allows one to discriminate between strange stars and neutron stars and set stringent bounds on the bag constants.
We make a systematic investigation of stationary cylindrically symmetric solutions to the five-dimensional Einstein and Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet equations. Apart from the five-dimensional neutral cosmic string metric, we find two new exact solutions which qualify as cosmic strings, one corresponding to an electrically charged cosmic string, the other to an extended superconducting cosmic string surrounding a charged core. In both cases, test particles are deflected away from the singular line source. We extend both kinds of solutions to exact multi-cosmic string solutions.
Spectra of density perturbations produced during chaotic inflation are calculated, taking both adiabatic and isocurvature modes into account in a class of scalar-tensor theories of gravity in which the dilaton is metrically coupled. Comparing the predicted spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies with the one observed by the COBE-DMR we calculate constraints on the parameters of these theories, which turn out to be stronger by an order-of-magnitude than those obtained from post-Newtonian experiments.
We present a cosmic string on a warped five dimensional space time in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory. Four-dimensional cosmic strings show some serious problems concerning the mechanism of string smoothing related to the string mass per unit length, $Gμ\approx 10^{-6}$. A warped cosmic string could overcome this problem and also the superstring requirement that $Gμ$ must be of order 1, which is far above observational bounds. Also the absence of observational evidence of axially symmetric lensing effect caused by cosmic strings could be explained by the warped cosmic string model we present: the a…
We study the geometry generated by a massless cosmic string. We find that this is given by a Riemann flat spacetime with a conical singularity along the worldsheet of the string. The geometry of such a spacetime is completely fixed by the holonomy of a simple loop wrapping the conical singularity. In the case of a massless cosmic string, this holonomy is a null-rotation/parabolic Lorentz transformation with a parabolic angle given by the linear energy density of the cosmic string. This description explicitly shows that there is no gravitational shockwave accompanying the massless cosmic string…
We study cosmic Nielsen-Olesen strings in space-times with a positive cosmological constant. For the free cosmic string in a cylindrically symmetric space-time, we calculate the contribution of the cosmological constant to the angle deficit, and to the bending of null geodesics. For a cosmic string in a Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time, we use Kruskal patches around the inner and outer horizons to show that a thin string can pierce them.
Although cosmic string scenario for galaxy formation is disfavored by CMB data, it is of great interest in the generation of cosmic gravitational-wave background. This research aims to develop an algorithm to extract cosmic gravitational-wave background produced by cosmic strings from the LISA data stream, and apply the algorithm to the simulated data stream containing the background produced by cosmic strings with various strength to study the detection threshold for this source. For 1-yr observation, It is found that the detection threshold of Gμ is 3.12 \times 10^-16 in the standard scenari…
We examine the Einstein equation with the energy-momentum tensors which correspond to an infinite line string of finite radius plus an outgoing radiation field. It is used to see the effect of the radiation field on the spacetime of a cosmic string. We make some assumptions about the metric coefficients and find a class of exact solution. The result can be applied to study the back reaction on a radiating cosmic string.
The cosmological features of primordial black holes formed from collapsed cosmic string loops are studied. Observational restrictions on a population of primordial black holes are used to restrict $f$, the fraction of cosmic string loops which collapse to form black holes, and $μ$, the cosmic string mass-per-unit-length. Using a realistic model of cosmic strings, we find the strongest restriction on the parameters $f$ and $μ$ is due to the energy density in $100 MeV$ photons radiated by the black holes. We also find that inert black hole remnants cannot serve as the dark matter. If earlier, cr…
In all inflationary scenarios of primordial black holes (PBH) formation, amplified scalar perturbations inevitably accompany an induced stochastic gravitational waves background (ISGWB) at smaller scales. In this paper, we study the ISGWB originating from the inflationary model, introduced in our previous paper [1] wherein PBHs can be produced with a nearly monochromatic mass fraction in the asteroid mass window accounting for the total dark matter in the universe. We numerically calculate the ISGWB in our scenario for frequencies ranging from nanoHz to KHz that covers the observational scales…
In these lectures, I review the current status of cosmic strings and cosmic superstrings. I first discuss topological defects in the context of Grand Unified Theories, focusing in particular in cosmic strings arising as gauge theory solitons. I discuss the reconciliation between cosmic strings and cosmological inflation, I review cosmic string dynamics, cosmic string thermodynamics and cosmic string gravity, which leads to a number of interesting observational signatures. I then proceed with the notion of cosmic superstrings arising at the end of brane inflation, within the context of brane-wo…
The unique, conical spacetime created by cosmic strings brings about distinctive gravitational lensing phenomena. The variety of these distinctive phenomena is increased when the strings have non-trivial mutual interactions. In particular, when strings bind and create junctions, rather than intercommute, the resulting configurations can lead to novel gravitational lensing patterns. In this brief note, we use exact solutions to characterize these phenomena, the detection of which would be strong evidence for the existence of complex cosmic string networks of the kind predicted by string theory-…
Understanding of the signatures of cosmic string networks is limited by a large uncertainty in the sizes at which cosmic string loops form. We review cosmic string network evolution, and the gravitational signatures, with emphasis on this uncertainty. We then review a recent analytic model of cosmic string networks. In combination with recent simulations, this suggests that 90% of the string goes into very small loops, at the gravitational radiation scale, and 10% into loops near the Hubble scale. We discuss cosmic string signatures in such a scenario, and the `inverse problem' of determining …
Cosmic strings produce charged particles which, by emitting electromagnetic radiation, partially ionize neutral hydrogen during the dark ages. Corrections to the ionization fraction of neutral hydrogen induced by cosmic strings could lead to new observational effects and/or new constraints on the string tension around $Gμ\sim 10^{-16} - 10^{-22}$ for values of the primordial magnetic field in the range $B_0 \sim 10^{-11}-10^{-9}$ Gauss.
We investigate the effect of the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background produced by kinks on infinite cosmic strings, whose spectrum was derived in our previous work, on the B-mode power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. We find that the B-mode polarization due to kinks is comparable to that induced by the motion of the string network and hence the contribution of GWs from kinks is important for estimating the B-mode power spectrum originating from cosmic strings. If the tension of cosmic strings μis large enough i.e., Gμ>~ 10^{-8}, B-mode polarization induce…
We examine a Nambu-Goto string trajectory in the neighbourhood of a cusp and determine the extrinsic curvature invariants. These are demonstrated to be finite, in contradiction with naive expectation. Thus the Nambu action is a valid approximation for the motion of a cosmic string vortex even at cusps. This suggests that cusp annihilation is not a feasible mechanism for particle radiation from cosmic strings.
