Related papers: Observational constraints on the types of cosmic s…
We investigate cosmological constraints on K-mouflage models of modified gravity. We consider two scenarios: one where the background evolution is free to deviate from $\Lambda$CDM (K-mouflage) and another one which reproduces a…
Cosmic strings are linear topological defects that may have been produced during symmetry-breaking phase transitions in the very early Universe. In an expanding Universe the existence of causally separate regions prevents such symmetries…
We study axion strings of hyperlight axions coupled to photons. Hyperlight axions -- axions lighter than Hubble at recombination -- are a generic prediction of the string axiverse. These axions strings produce a distinct quantized…
We investigate the cosmological and astrophysical constraints on superconducting cosmic strings (SCSs). SCS loops emit strong bursts of electromagnetic waves, which might affect various cosmological and astrophysical observations. We take…
Sterile neutrinos can affect the evolution of the universe, and thus using the cosmological observations can search for sterile neutrinos. In this work, we use the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data from the Planck 2018…
Cosmic strings are predicted to form kinks and cusps that travel along the string at close to the speed of light. These disturbances are radiated away as highly beamed gravitational waves that produce a burst like pulse as the cone of…
We initiate the LISA template databank for stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds sourced by cosmic strings. We include two templates, an analytical template, which enables more flexible searches, and a numerical template derived…
We study the effect of weak lensing by cosmic (super-)strings on the higher-order statistics of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A cosmic string segment is expected to cause weak lensing as well as an integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW)…
Spaceborne gravitational-wave (GW) detectors observing at milli-Hz and deci-Hz frequencies are expected to detect large numbers of quasi-monochromatic signals. The first and second time-derivative of the GW frequency ($\dot f_0$ and $\ddot…
We update previous frequentist analyses of the CMSSM and NUHM1 parameter spaces to include the public results of searches for supersymmetric signals using ~1 /fb of LHC data recorded by ATLAS and CMS and ~0.3/fb of data recorded by LHCb in…
We study a semi-local Abelian Higgs sigma model with $\mathbb{CP}^2$-valued scalar fields coupled to gravity. We establish the conditions needed for self-duality in this system and obtain cosmic strings, both of self-dual character and out…
The standard model of cosmology, {\Lambda}CDM, is the simplest model that matches the current observations, but it relies on two hypothetical components, to wit, dark matter and dark energy. Future galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave…
Observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) together with weak lensing measurements of the clustering of large scale cosmological structures and local measurements of the Hubble constant pose a challenge to the standard…
Searches for primordial gravitational waves have resulted in constraints in a large frequency range from a variety of sources. The standard Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) technique is to parameterise the tensor power spectrum in terms of…
We perform a direct search for an isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) produced by cosmic strings in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array second data release. We find no evidence for such an SGWB, and therefore place $95\%$…
The cosmic curvature density parameter has been constrained in the present work independent of any background cosmological model. The reconstruction is performed adopting the non-parametric Gaussian Processes (GP). The constraints on…
We investigate the information content of various cosmic shear statistics on the theory of gravity. Focusing on the Hu-Sawicki-type $f(R)$ model, we perform a set of ray-tracing simulations and measure the convergence bispectrum, peak…
In cosmological models where local cosmic strings are formed at the end of a period of inflation, the perturbations are seeded both by the defects and by the quantum fluctuations. In a subset of these models, for example those based on…
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy (spatial inhomogeneity) data provide the tightest constraints on the Hubble constant, matter density, spatial curvature, and dark energy dynamics. Other data, sensitive to the evolution of only…
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…