Gravitational wave signatures from cosmic strings are analyzed numerically. Cosmic string networks form during phase transistions in the early universe and these networks of long cosmic strings break into loops that radiate energy in the form of gravitational waves until they decay. The gravitational waves come in the form of harmonic modes from individual string loops, a "confusion noise" from galactic loops, and a stochastic background of gravitational waves from a network of loops. In this study string loops of larger size $α$ and lower string tensions $Gμ$ (where $μ$ is the mass per unit length of the string) are investigated than in previous studies. Several detectors are currently searching for gravitational waves and a space based satellite, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), is in the final stages of pre-flight. The results for large loop sizes ($α=0.1$) put an upper limit of about $Gμ<10^{-9}$ and indicate that gravitational waves from string loops down to $Gμ\approx 10^{-20}$ could be detectabe by LISA. The string tension is related to the energy scale of the phase transition and the Planck mass via $Gμ= Λ_s^2 / m_{pl}^2$, so the limits on $Gμ$ set the energy scale of any phase transition to $Λ_s < 10^{-4.5} m_{pl}$. Our results indicate that loops may form a significant gravitational wave signal, even for string tensions too low to have larger cosmological effects.
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…
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.
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…
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…
We compare the spectrum of the stochastic gravitational wave background produced in several models of cosmic strings with the common-spectrum process recently reported by NANOGrav. We discuss theoretical uncertainties in computing such a background, and show that despite such uncertainties, cosmic strings remain a good explanation for the potential signal, but the consequences for cosmic string parameters depend on the model. Superstrings could also explain the signal, but only in a restricted parameter space where their network behavior is effectively identical to that of ordinary cosmic stri…
Cosmic string wakes lead to a large signal in 21 cm redshift maps at redshifts larger than that corresponding to reionization. Here, we compute the angular power spectrum of 21 cm radiation as predicted by a scaling distribution of cosmic strings whose wakes have undergone shock heating.
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 consider the femto-lensing due to a cosmic string. If a cosmic string with the deficit angle $Δ\sim 100$ [femto-arcsec] $\sim10^{-18}$ [rad] exists around the line of sight to a gamma-ray burst, we may observe characteristic interference patterns caused by gravitational lensing in the energy spectrum of the gamma-ray burst. This "femto-lensing" event was first proposed as a tool to probe small mass primordial black holes. In this paper, we propose use of the femto-lensing to probe cosmic strings with extremely small tension. Observability conditions and the event rate are discussed. Differe…
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 cosmic string is a useful probe of the early Universe and may give us a clue to physics at high energy scales where any artificial particle accelerators cannot reach. Although one of the most promising tools is the cosmic microwave background, the constraint from gravitational waves is becoming so stringent that one may not hope to detect its signatures in the cosmic microwave background. In this paper, we construct a scenario that contains cosmic strings observable in the cosmic microwave background while evading the constraint imposed by the recent pulsar timing data. We argue that cosmi…
Recent work by Jenkins and Sakellariadou claims that cusps on cosmic strings lead to black hole production. To derive this conclusion they use the hoop conjecture in the rest frame of the string loop, rather than in the rest frame of the proposed black hole. Most of the energy they include is the bulk motion of the string near the cusp. We redo the analysis taking this into account and find that cusps on cosmic strings with realistic energy scale do not produce black holes, unless the cusp parameters are extremely fine-tuned.
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…
In this paper the collision of two cosmic string loops is studied. After collision junctions are formed and the loops are entangled. We show that after their formation the junctions start to unzip and the loops disentangle. This analysis provides a theoretical understanding of the unzipping effect observed in numerical simulations of a network of cosmic strings with more than one type of cosmic strings. The unzipping phenomena have important effects in the evolution of cosmic string networks when junctions are formed upon collision, such as in a network of cosmic superstrings.
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.
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.
Photons can gravitationally scatter off a cosmic string loop and gain or lose energy. We consider the spectral distortion induced by cosmic string loops placed in an ambient thermal bath of photons. The fractional deviation from a thermal spectrum caused by cosmic strings is estimated to scale as (G_N μ)^2 z^2, where G_N is Newton's constant, $μ$ is the string tension, and z is the cosmological redshift after which spectral distortions can survive. This effect is large enough to potentially be of observational interest.
In previous work, we constructed a convolutional neural network used to estimate the location of cosmic strings in simulated cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropy maps. We derived a connection between the estimates of cosmic string locations by this neural network and the posterior probability distribution of the cosmic string tension $Gμ$. Here, we significantly improve the calculation of the posterior distribution of the string tension $Gμ$. We also improve our previous plain convolutional neural network by using residual networks. We apply our new neural network and posterior c…
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.
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.
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 analyse the properties of a fluid generating a spinning cosmic string spacetime with flat limiting cases corresponding to a constant angular momentum in the infinite past and static configuration in the infinite future. The spontaneous loss of angular momentum of a spinning cosmic string due to particle emission is discussed. The rate of particle production between the spinning and non-spinning cosmic string spacetimes is calculated.
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 $-1/4G$.
We evaluate quasinormal mode frequencies for RN black hole space times with cosmic string perturbed by a massless Dirac field, using Pöschl-Teller potential method. We find that only in the case of RN black hole having small charge, the effect due to cosmic string will dominate when perturbed by a negatively charged Dirac field, but if we are perturbing with positively charged Dirac field decay will be less in the case of black hole having cosmic string compared to the RN black hole without string
Cosmic strings are generically predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. We propose a new avenue for detecting cosmic strings through their effect on the filamentary structure in the cosmic web. Using cosmological simulations of the density wake from a cosmic string, we examine a variety of filament structure probes. We show that the largest effect of the cosmic string is an overdensity in the filament distribution around the string wake. The signal from the overdensity is stronger at higher redshift, and more robust with a wider field. We analyze the spatial dist…
In this article, the thermodynamics of regular black holes with a cosmic string passing through it is studied. We will observe that the string has no effect on the temperature as well as the relation between entropy S and horizon area A.
We describe a simple model of chaotic inflation in supergravity where one can easily tune not only the basic cosmological parameters such as n_{s}, r, and f_NL, but also a possible (subdominant) cosmic string contribution to the CMB anisotropy.
We discuss cosmic Nielsen-Olesen strings in space-times endowed with a positive cosmological constant. For the cylindrically symmetric, static free cosmic string, we discuss the contribution of the cosmological constant to the angle deficit, and to the motion of the null/timelike geodesics. For a non-gravitating cosmic string in a Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time, we discuss how a thin string can pierce the two horizons. We also present a metric which describes the exterior of a self gravitating thin string present in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time.
Multiple gauge theories predict the presence of cosmic strings with different mass densities $Gμ/c^2$. We derive an equation governing the perturbations of a rotating black hole pierced by a straight, infinitely long cosmic string along its axis of rotation and calculate the quasinormal-mode frequencies of such a black hole. We then carry out parameter estimation on the first detected gravitational-wave event, GW150914, by hypothesizing that there is a string piercing through the remnant, yielding a constraint of $Gμ/c^2 <3.8\times 10^{-3}$ at the 90\% confidence interval with a comparable Bay…
The model of cosmic string formed from two gravitating and interacting scalar fields is considered. It is shown that the regular solutions exist at special choice of the model's parameters only.
We present an analytic study of cosmic superconducting chiral string collisions in Minkowski space, applying the kinematic constraints that arise from the relevant generalization of the Nambu-Goto action. In particular, we revisit the solution for chiral superconducting cosmic strings and demonstrate that Y junction production for such strings is possible. We consider the collision of chiral current-carrying straight strings and obtain the region in angle-velocity space that allows the production of string junctions. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex evolution of chira…
Cosmic strings are predicted in many models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In models which admit strings, a network of strings will inevitably be formed in a phase transition in the early universe and will persist to the present time. Strings leave behind distinctive features in cosmology. Searching for these signatures in new observational windows provides a way to constrain particle physics at the high energy scale and is thus complementary to searches for new physics at the low energy end, for example at the LHC. Specifically, I will discuss signatures of cosmic strings in c…
Gravitational waves (GWs) are one of the key signatures of cosmic strings. If GWs from cosmic strings are detected in future experiments, not only their existence can be confirmed but also their properties might be probed. In this paper, we study the determination of cosmic string parameters through direct detection of GW signatures in future ground-based GW experiments. We consider two types of GWs, bursts and the stochastic GW background, which provide us with different information about cosmic string properties. Performing the Fisher matrix calculation on the cosmic string parameters, such …
Minkowski Functionals are a powerful tool for analyzing large scale structure, in particular if the distribution of matter is highly non-Gaussian, as it is in models in which cosmic strings contribute to structure formation. Here we apply Minkowski functionals to 21cm maps which arise if structure is seeded by a scaling distribution of cosmic strings embeddded in background fluctuations, and then test for the statistical significance of the cosmic string signals using the Fisher combined probability test. We find that this method allows for detection of cosmic strings with $G μ> 5 \times 10^{-…
We present an analytic model specifically designed to address the long standing issue of small scale structure on cosmic string networks. The model is derived from the microscopic string equations, together with a few motivated assumptions. The resulting form of the correlation between two points on a string is exploited to study smoothing by gravitational radiation, loop formation and lensing by cosmic strings. In addition, the properties of the small loop population and the possibility of detecting gravitational waves generated by their lowest harmonics are investigated. Whenever possible, w…
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 describe the analytical extension of certain static cylindrical multi--cosmic string metrics to wormhole spacetimes with only one region at spatial infinity, and investigate in detail the geometry of asymptotically Minkowskian wormhole spacetimes generated by one or two cosmic strings. We find that such wormholes tend to lengthen rather than shorten space travel. Possible signatures of these wormholes are briefly discussed.
Motivated by the fact that cosmological perturbations of inflationary quantum origin were born Gaussian, the search for non-Gaussianities in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies is considered as the privileged probe of non-linear physics in the early universe. Cosmic strings are active sources of gravitational perturbations and incessantly produce non-Gaussian distortions in the CMB. Even if, on the currently observed angular scales, they can only contribute a small fraction of the CMB angular power spectrum, cosmic strings could actually be the main source of its non-Gaussianiti…
In this article we observe that the self-adjoint extension of the Hamiltonian of a particle moving around a shielded cosmic string gives rise to a gravitational analogue of the bound state Aharonov-Bohm effect.
It is known that Vilenkin's phenomenological equation of state for static straight cosmic strings is inconsistent with Brans-Dicke theory. We will prove that, in the presence of a cosmological constant, this equation of state is consistent with Brans-Dicke theory. The general solution of the full nonlinear field equations, representing the interior of a cosmic string with a cosmological constant is also presented.
We study future observational constraints on cosmic string parameters from various types of next-generation experiments: direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), pulsar timing array, and the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We consider both GW burst and stochastic GW background searches by ground- and space-based interferometers as well as GW background detection in pulsar timing experiments. We also consider cosmic string contributions to the CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies. These different types of observations offer independent probes of cosmic strings and may enable u…
The interpretation of so-called cosmic string in black hole spacetimes has settled down to an unsatisfactory state. In this article we try to provide a different model for these cosmic strings by explicit construction of these spacetimes from the Bonnor rocket solution. It is shown that the correct stress-energy tensor is that of null dust with a rather strange energy density --- first derivative of Dirac delta distribution. We will discuss the Schwarzschild solution and the C--metric. In the latter case we will show that there is a momentum flux through the cosmic string, causing the accelera…
Superconducting cosmic strings emit electromagnetic waves between the times of recombination and reionization. Hence, they have an effect on the global 21cm signal. We compute the resulting absorption features, focusing on strings with critical current, study their dependence on the string tension $μ$, and compare with observational results. For string tensions in the range of $G μ= 10^{-10}$, where $G$ is Newton's gravitational constant, there is an interesting amplification of the two characteristic absorption features, one during the cosmic dawn, $z \lesssim 30$, and the other during the co…
